KARACHI: Pakistan’s current account deficit has recorded a decline of 37 per cent to $2.21 billion during first quarter (July – September) of fiscal year 2022/2023, according to official data released on Wednesday.
The current account deficit of the country was $3.53 billion in the same quarter of the last fiscal year.
READ MORE: Pakistan current account deficit narrows by 19% in July – August
State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Wednesday issued the summary of balance of payments for the first quarter of the current fiscal year.
Contraction in current account deficit can be attributed to significant fall in trade deficit. The trade deficit also contracted by 21.32 per cent to $9.22 billion during first quarter of the current fiscal year as compared with the deficit of $11.72 billion in the same quarter of the last fiscal year.
READ MORE: Pakistan current account deficit widens by 42% in July 2022
Import bill of the country for the quarter under review sharply declined by 12.37 per cent to $16.4 billion as compared with $18.71 billion in the corresponding quarter of the last fiscal year.
On the other hand, exports of the country recorded an increase of 2.62 per cent to $7.18 billion during July – September of the current fiscal year as compared with $6.99 billion in the same period of the last fiscal year.
READ MORE: Pakistan’s FY22 current account deficit widens to $17.41 bn
However, inflow of home remittances slipped by 6.34 per cent to $7.68 billion during first quarter of the current fiscal year 2022-2023. The inflow of remittances was $8.2 billion in the corresponding quarter of the last year.
The balance of payment posted a deficit of $316 million in the month of September 2022 which was much lower to the deficit of $1.15 billion in the same month of the last year. The deficit is also lower when compared with the deficit of $676 million in the month of August 2022.
READ MORE: Pakistan’s CAD balloons to $15.19 billion in 11 months