KARACHI: The country’s current account deficit fell sharply, ie, 81 percent during the first 11 months of the current fiscal year (FY23) supported by lower import bill.

According to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the country posted $2.94 billion current account deficit during July-May of FY23 compared to $15.16 billion in the same period of last fiscal year (FY22), depicting a decline of $12.2 billion.

During the period under review, the country’s import bill stood at $49 billion down from $64.3 billion due to regulatory steps to curb the imports to reduce the pressure on external account.

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The country’s exports also presented poor performance as overall exports plunged by 13 percent to $25.7 billion in July-May of FY23 as against $29.6 billion in corresponding period of last fiscal year.

On month-on-month basis, the Current Account Balance recorded a surplus of $225 million during the month of May 2023 as compared to $78 million in April 2023.

According to the SBP data, the country’s exports increased to $2.594 billion in May 2023 against total goods of $2.101 billion in April 2023. On the other hand, total imports stood at $3.788 billion in May 2023 against $3.677 billion in April 2023.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023