Transport group imports decline 28.87pc

ISLAMABAD: The imports of transport group decreased by 28.87 percent during the first seven months of the current fiscal year compared to the same month of last year.

The transport group imports during July-January (2018-19) were recorded at $1826.127 million against the imports of $2567.322 million during July-January (2017-18), according to Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

Among the transport group, the imports of Completely Built Units (CBU) buses, trucks and other heavy vehicles decreased by 40.05 percent, from $147.743 million last year to $88.574 million whereas the imports of CBU motor cars decreased by 36.08 percent, from $302.616 million to $193.430.

The imports of CBU motorcycles also witnessed negative growth of 41.19 percent by falling from $3.982 million to $2.342 million.

On the other hand, the imports of Completely Knocked Down (CKD) or Semi- Knocked Down (SKD) buses, trucks and other heavy vehicles increased by 8.23 percent, from $209.253 million to $226.466 million.

The imports of CKD/SKD motor cars increased from $450.259 million to $488.505 million, showing growth of 8.49 percent whereas the imports of CKD/SKD motorcycles increased by 4.13 percent, from $60.336 million to $62.827 million.

It is pertinent to mention here that the country's overall merchandize trade deficit plunged by 9.66 percent during July-January (2018-19) as the deficit contracted by over $2 billion to $19.264 billion in the period under review against the deficit of $21.324 billion recorded during same period of the previous year.

The exports during the period of current fiscal year also witnessed an increase of 2.24 percent to $13.231 billion from $12.941 billion during last year while the imports declined by 5.17 percent to $32.495 billion from $34.265 billion during first seven months of current fiscal year, PBS reported.

Meanwhile, services trade deficit shrank by 29.11 percent during the first half of the current fiscal year compared to the corresponding period of last year.

The services trade deficit during July-December (2018-19) was recorded at $1.945 billion against the deficit of $2.744 billion during July-December (2017-18), showing decline of 29.11 percent, the data revealed.