ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s trade deficit was narrowed by 32.65 per cent to $17.133 billion during the first half (July-December) of the current fiscal year as compared to $25.438 billion during the same period of last year, says the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

The exports during July-December (2022-23) were recorded at $14.249 billion against the exports of $15.125 billion in July-December of 2021-22, showing a decline of 5.79 per cent, according to the trade data released by PBS Tuesday. The imports decreased by 22.63 per cent during the period under review by going down from $40.563 billion last year to $31.382 billion during the current year.

On a year-on-year basis, the exports witnessed a decline of 16.64 per cent and were recorded at $2.304 billion in December 2022 against the exports of $2.764 billion in December 2021.

July-Nov services sector deficit falls over 50pc to $865m YoY

The imports also decreased to $5.161 billion in December 2022 from $7.580 billion in December 2021, showing negative growth of 31.91 per cent. The trade deficit narrowed by 40.68 per cent on a YoY basis to $2.857 billion in December 2022 compared to $4.816 billion in December 2021.

On a month-on-month basis, the exports during December 2022 declined by 3.64 per cent when compared to the exports of $2.391 billion in November 2022. The imports into the country were decreased.0.41 per cent in December 2022 when compared to the imports of $5.182 billion in November 2022, according to the data.

The trade deficit widened by 2.36 per cent on month-on-month basis and stood at $2.857 billion in December 2022 when compared to $2.791 billion in November 2022.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023