KARACHI: The current account deficit (CAD) has contracted by 71 percent during first ten months of current fiscal year owing to sharp fall in import payments.

According to Balance of Payment (BOP) data released by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday showed that the current account deficit was at $3.343 billion during July – April 2019/2020 as compared with the deficit of $11.45 billion in the same period of the last fiscal year.

The significant decline in current account deficit was attributed to massive decline in import bill. The total import bill of the country fell by 16.25 percent to $38 billion during first ten months of current fiscal year as compared with $45.39 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.

However, exports of the country also fell by 4 percent to $18.4 billion during first ten months of current fiscal year as compared with $19.1 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.

On the other hand, the SBP received workers’ remittances during July – April FY20 amounted to US $ 18,781.6 million recording an increase US $ 980.6 million or 5.5 percent over remittances received during July – April FY19 (US $ 17,801.0 million).

The current account deficit was recorded at $572 million during April 2020 as compared with the deficit of $9 million in March 2020.