Pakistan’s economy ‘moving in the right direction’, says PM after C/A shows surplus

Pakistan's economy is moving in the right direction, said Prime Minister on Monday after the current account balance posted a surplus of $424mn in July 2020.

“MashaAllah Pakistan's economy is on the right track. After current account balance posted deficit of $613mn in July 2019 and a deficit of $100mn in June 2020, in July 2020 current account balance swung upwards to a surplus of $424mn,” said PM Khan in a series of tweets.

Imran Khan added in his tweet that this drastic change is the result of continuous improvement in exports which increased by 20 percent as compared to in June 2020 and record remittances.

This is the fourth monthly surplus since last October, and a significant improvement on the deficit of $613mn in the same month last year.

“Strong turnaround is due to a continued recovery in exports and record-high remittances, with support from several policy and administrative initiatives by SBP and government. Exports sustained strong recovery, with m/m growth of further 19.7pc in July on top of 25.5pc in June,” said SBP.

As per the data released by the Ministry of Commerce, Pakistan exports for the month of July stood at $1.99bn as compared to $1.88bn recorded in July 2019, showing a yearly increase of $109mn.

Meanwhile, Imports for the month of July 2020 stood at $3,540mn as compared to $3,696 recorded in the same period last year, showing a decline of 4.20pc or $156mn. Overall, the country’s export/import balance stood at ($1,542mn), declining by 14.7pc or $266mn as compared to the same period last year.

Whereas, the remittances from overseas Pakistanis reached $2,768 million in July 2020, the highest ever amount in one month in the history of the country. The remittances showed an increase of $740mn (or 36.5pc) over last July and an increase of $302mn (or 12.2pc) over June. This is the highest ever recorded workers’ remittances in a single month.