Current account surplus improves to $1.16 billion in July – October

KARACHI: The balance of payment has posted a current account surplus of $1.16 billion during the first four months (July – October) of current fiscal year 2020/2021, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Thursday.

During the same months of the last fiscal year the balance of payment posted a current account deficit of $1.42 billion.

Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that it was fourth in a row, Current Account Balance (CAB) posted yet another surplus in the month of October 2020.

CAB arrived at $382 million in October 2020 as compared to a surplus of $73 million recorded during October 2019.

On a monthly basis, CAB was significantly up marking a 6.47 times jump from the previous month’s surplus of $59 million.

The primary reasons behind surplus in October 2020 remained a 14.1 percent YoY ($283 million) rise in remittances along with a 5.4 percent YoY decline in total imports.

However, total exports also declined by 13 percent YoY ($356 million) during the same period.

During the first four months of the current fiscal year, the country posted a surplus of $1,160 million compared with a deficit of $1,419mn during the same period last year.

Albeit negative, Balance of Trade (BoT) of goods and services during July – October 2020/2021 was 3 percent down to $7,533 million against a deficit of $7,759 million in the same period last year.