Current account balance shows $432 million surplus

The country''s current account balance improved, registering a surplus of $432 million in the first quarter of the current fiscal year (2012-13) primarily driven by inflows of Collation Support Fund (CSF) and home remittances. Economists said that the surplus current account was a positive indication for the ailing national economy and it would reduce pressure on the country''s external account.
"We believe that a positive current account balance will also help keep the exchange rate stable, besides strengthening the foreign exchange reserves," economists said. They said that CSF inflows played a vital role in supplementing the current account balance, adding that high home remittances also contributed to put the current account on positive side during the first quarter of the current fiscal year.
According to State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the country''s current account balance posted a surplus of $432 million in July-September of fiscal year 2012-2013 (FY13) against $1.339 billion deficit in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year. However, month-on-month basis, the current account balance witnessed a deficit of $331 million in September this year. During the period under review, total deficit of trade, services and income stood at $4.089 billion against current account transfers of $4.538 billion.
The country''s overall goods imports stood at $9.628 billion and exports at $5.994 billion with a trade deficit of $3.634 billion during the first quarter of FY13, which stood at $4.158 billion during the same period last year, along with imports amounting to $10.3 billion and exports worth $6.142 billion exports during same period last fiscal year (2011-12).
Services sector trade is also on the positive side, as exports are higher than impost. Inflows under services sector''s trade stood at $2.12 billion and outflows $1.821 billion in the first quarter of FY12. Similarly, income sector outflows stood at $869 million and $115 million inflows during the period under review.
The State Bank predicted that the current account deficit during FY13 would be less than FY12 because of the arrival of much-awaited foreign inflows of Coalition Support Fund (CSF). The current account balance was in deficit for a long time, largely because of high goods imports on the back of rising commodity prices on the international front.