ISLAMABAD: Petroleum group imports witnessed a negative growth of 21.84 percent during the first 11 months (July-May) of the current fiscal year 2022-23 and remained at $15.382 billion compared to $19.679 billion during the same period of last fiscal year, says the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

The data of exports and imports released by PBS revealed that petroleum group imports in May 2023 remained at $1.407 billion compared to $891.468 billion in April and registered 57.91 per cent growth. On a year-on-year (YoY) basis when compared to $2.645 billion in May 2022, the petroleum group registered 46.80 per cent negative growth.

Petroleum products imports witnessed 32.67 per cent negative growth during the first eleven months of the current fiscal year and remained at $6.748 billion compared to $ 10.022 billion during the same period of the last fiscal year. On MoM basis, it remained $599.080 million in May 2023 compared to $ 312.588 million in April 2023 and registered 91.65 per cent growth.

The overall imports during July-May (2022-23) totaled $51.210 billion (provisional) as against $72.280 billion during the corresponding period of last year showing a decrease of 29.15 per cent. The imports in May 2023 were $4.328 billion (provisional) as compared to $2.997 billion in April 2023 showing an increase of 44.41 per cent but decreased by 35.98 per cent as compared to $6.760 billion in May 2022.

Machinery group imports registered 47.75 per cent negative growth during the first eleven months of the current fiscal year and remained $5.399 billion compared to $10.333 billion.

Food group imports witnessed 0.84 per cent negative growth during the period under review and stood at $8.380 billion compared to $8.451 billion during the same period of last year.

The main commodities of imports during May 2023 were petroleum products (Rs171,029 million), petroleum crude (Rs109,865 million), natural gas, liquefied (Rs102,995 million), palm oil (Rs83,980 million), plastic materials (Rs54,664 million), electric machinery and apparatus (Rs52,629 million), iron and steel (Rs40,305 million), raw cotton (Rs29,864 million), medicinal products (Rs24,052 million), and pulses (leguminous vegetables) (Rs19,730 million).

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023