ISLAMABAD: Petroleum group imports witnessed a negative growth of 8.80 percent during the first half (July-December) of the current fiscal year 2022-23 and remained $9.285 billion compared to $10.181 billion during the same period of last fiscal year, says Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

The data of exports and imports released by the PBS revealed that petroleum group imports registered 3.70 percent negative growth on a month-on-month (MoM) basis in December 2022 and remained $1.585 billion compared to $1.646 billion in November and registered 12.02 percent negative growth on a year-on-year (YoY) basis when compared to $1.801 billion in December 2021.

Petroleum products witnessed 16.90 percent negative growth during the first half of the current fiscal year and remained $4.202 billion compared to $5.056 billion during the same period of the last fiscal year.

On MoM basis, it remained $649.862 million in December 2022 compared to $708.234 million in November 2022 and registered 8.24 percent negative growth.

On a YoY basis, petroleum products imports witnessed a negative growth of 27.84 percent when compared to $900.64 million in December 2021.

Petroleum crude imports witnessed a growth of 15.17 percent during the first half of the current fiscal year 2022-23 and remained $2.776 billion when compared to $2.410 billion during the same period of last year.

On a MoM basis, petroleum crude imports registered 7.90 percent negative growth and remained $502.858 million in December 2022 compared to $545.984 million in November 2022.

On a YoY basis, petroleum crude imports witnessed a growth of 41.93 percent when compared to $354.299 million in December 2021.

Natural gas, liquefied imports witnessed a negative growth of 18.72 percent during the first half of the current fiscal year and remained at $1.949 billion compared to $2.398 billion during the same period of last fiscal year.

Agricultural and other chemicals group imports witnessed 34.79 percent negative growth during the first half of the current fiscal year and remained at $5.175 billion compared to $7.937 billion during the same period of last fiscal year.

Machinery group imports witnessed 45.29 percent negative growth during the first half of the current fiscal year and remained at $3.236 billion compared to $5.915 billion during the same period of last fiscal year.

Power generation machinery registered 70.89 percent negative growth during the first half of the current fiscal year and remained $288.320 million compared to $990.356 million during the same period of the last fiscal year.

Transport group imports witnessed 49.84 percent negative growth during the first half of the current fiscal year and remained at $1.163 billion compared to $2.318 billion during the same period of last fiscal year.

Food group imports witnessed 2.41 percent growth during the first half of the current fiscal year and remained at $4.914 billion compared to $4.798 billion during the same period of last fiscal year.

The country’s imports during July-December fiscal year 2022-23 totaled $31.245 billion (provisional) as against $40.563 billion during the corresponding period of last year showing a decrease of 22.97 per cent.

The imports in December 2022 were $5.154 billion (provisional) as compared to $5.182 billion in November 2022 showing a decrease of 0.54 percent and 32.01 percent as compared to $7.580 billion in December 2021.

Pakistan’s trade deficit narrowed by 33.22per cent during the first half (July-December) of the current fiscal year and stood at $16.987 billion compared to $25.438 billion during the same period of last fiscal year.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023