Oil import bill shrinks by 21.7pc to $6.44 billion in 8 months

ISLAMABAD: The country’s oil import bill witnessed reduction of 21.70 percent during the first eight months of the current fiscal year as compared to the corresponding period of last year.

The country imported oil products worth US $6445.601 million during July-February (2020-21) against the imports of $8232.294 million during July-February (2019-20), showing decline of 21.70 percent, according to latest data by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

The commodities that contributed in decline of oil import bill included, petroleum products, the imports of which decreased by 20.71 percent, from $3641.111 million last year to $2886.999 million during the current fiscal year.

Likewise, the imports of petroleum cured decreased from $2315.597 million to $1753.918 million, a decline of 24.26 percent while the imports of natural gas (liquefied) went down by 27.17 percent, from $2059.276 million to $1499.790 million.

On the other hand, the imports of petroleum gas (liquefied) increased from $216.113 million to $304.789 million, showing growth of 41.03 percent while the imports of all other oil products decreased by 46.70 percent, from $0.197 million to 0.105 million.

Meanwhile, on year-on-year basis, the oil import bill shrunk by 26.89 percent to $224.550 million in February 2021 when compared to the imports of $209.195 million in February 2020, the data revealed.

However, the imports during January 2021 witnessed an increase of 0.64 percent when compared to the imports of $223.117 million in January 2021.

It is pertinent to mention here that the overall merchandize exports from the country increased by 4.29 percent during the first eight months of the current fiscal year (2020-21) as compared to the corresponding period of last year.

The exports of the country during July-February (2020-21) were recorded at $16.304 billion against the exports of $15.633 billion during July-February (2019-20), according to the latest PBS data.

The imports during the period under review also increased by 7.49 percent by growing from $31.483 billion last year to $33.840 billion during the first eight months of current fiscal year.

Based on the figures, the country’s trade deficit increased by 10.64 percent during the first eight months as compared to the corresponding period of last year. The trade deficit during the period was recorded at $17.536 billion against the deficit of $15.850 billion last year.