ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s trade deficit narrowed by 35.51 percent to $22.9 billion during the first nine months (July-March) of the current fiscal year 2022-23 as compared to $35.509 billion during the same period of last year, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) said.

The country’s exports during July-March (2022-23) were recorded at $21.046 billion against the exports of $23.350 billion in July-March of 2021-22, showing a decline of 9.87 per cent, according to the trade data released by PBS on Monday.

The imports decreased by 25.34 per cent during the period under review by going down from $58.859 billion last year to $43.946 billion during the current year. On a year-on-year basis, exports witnessed a decline of 14.76 per cent and were recorded at $2.367 billion in March 2023 against the exports of $2.777 billion in March 2022.

Jul-Jan trade deficit shrinks 31.97pc to $19.632bn YoY

The imports also decreased to $3.828 billion in March 2023 from $6.407 billion in March 2022, showing negative growth of 40.25 per cent. The trade deficit narrowed by 59.75 per cent on a YoY basis to $1.461 billion in March 2023 compared to $3.630 billion in March 2022.

On a month-on-month basis, the exports during March 2023 increased by 8.03 per cent when compared to the exports of $2.191 billion in February 2022. The imports into the country decreased by 5.11 per cent in March 2023 when compared to the imports of $4.034 billion in February 2022, according to the data.

The trade deficit narrowed by 20.73 per cent on a month-on-month basis and stood at $1.461 billion in March 2023 compared to $1.843 billion in February 2022.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023