Trade surplus with Afghanistan jumps 44% in January

March 04, 2019: The country's trade surplus with Afghanistan jumped 44 percent in January 2019 as the value of surplus rose to US$127.819 million in the month as compared to the surplus worth of $88.749 million in same month of previous year.

The trade surplus during first seven months (July-January) of current fiscal year however decreased by 23.7 percent as the trade surplus fell to $577.624 million in Jul-Jan (2018-19) from $757.326 million in same period of last year, according to latest data released by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).

The country's export of goods to Afghanistan increased by 33.61 percent in January 2019 as compared to the same month a year ago as the exports to Afghanistan rose to US$ 141.414 million in January this year from $105.836 million in January 2018.

On month-on-month basis, the exports to the country also increased by 90 percent during the period under review as compared to exports worth of $74.193 million recorded during December 2018.

On average the exports to Afghanistan, however witnessed a decline of 19.96 percent during July-January 2018-19 as compared to same period of last year as the exports fell to $676.335 million from $845.068 million during July-January 2017-18.

Similarly the imports of goods from Afghanistan during first seven months of current fiscal year increased by 12.5 percent as it rose to $98.711 million in July-January (2018-19) from $87.942 million worth of imports recorded during same period of the year 2017-18.

On yearly basis, the imports from the country declined by 20.4 percent from $17.087 million in January 2018 to $13.595 million in same month of current year while on monthly basis, the imports increased by 32.8 percent as during December 2018, the imports stood at $10.231 million.

The Pakistan's trade surplus with Afghanistan during January stood at $124.327 million while during first seven months (Jul-Jan) of current fiscal year the trade balance remained $577.624 million.

(APP)