Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s trade deficit has reduced due to government measures registering a 41 percent dip on a YoY basis on Wednesday.
As per data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, the trade deficit in December 2022 stood at $2.85 billion compared to the trade deficit of $2.79bn in the preceding month. So, on a Month-on-Month basis, the deficit increased by 2.3 percent. However, on a Year-on-Year basis, the deficit plunged by 41 percent as it stood at $4.8 billion in December 2021.
Trade deficit declined
The deficit was nosedived due to 17pc decrease in export and a 32pc decline in imports in Dec 2022 compared to the country’s imports and export in Dec 2021.
Exports declined by 4pc in Dec 2022 compared to the preceding month in the same year.
In Dec 2022, the export stood at $2.30 billion; in Dec 2021, the country’s exports remained at $2.76 billion.
In Nov 2022, the exports stood at $2.39 billion.
The imports shrank to $5.16bn in Dec 2022 compared to imports in Dec 2021, which remained at $7.58bn.
In Dec 2002, a trade deficit registered a decline by 41% as the deficit was clocked in $2.85bn and in the previous year Dec 2021, the deficit was $4.81bn.
In the first half of a current year, the exports stood at $14.25bn after registering a decline of 6pc.
Whereas during the previous year’s first half, exports remained at $15.12bn.
On the other hand, in the first half of a current year, the country’s imports stood at $31.38bn after registering a decrease by 23pc.
Cumulatively, within 6MFY23, a trade deficit stood at $17.13bn, narrowed by 32.65% YoY compared to the deficit of $25.43bn recorded in the same period last year.
