Pakistan’s CAD hit $13.17 billion in July

KARACHI: Pakistan’s current account deficit (CAD) hit record $13.17 billion during first nine months (July – March) 2021/2022, according to balance of payment (BoP) data released on Saturday.

The current account deficit for July – March 2021/2022 widened to $13.169 billion as compared with the deficit of $275 million in the corresponding months of the last fiscal year, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said.

The massive widening of current account deficit may be attributed to sharp increase in imports and repayment of external debt.

The trade deficit widened by 71 per cent to $35.52 billion during first nine months of the current fiscal year as compared with $20.8 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year, according to Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

Import bill of the country recorded an increase of 49 per cent to $58.87 billion during July – March 2021/2022 as compared with $39.49 billion in the same period of the last fiscal year. On the other hand exports of the country also grew by 25 per cent to $23.35 billion during the first nine months of the current fiscal year as compared with $18.68 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.

The inflows of workers remittances increased to $22.95 billion during July – March 2021/2022 as compared with $21.43 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.

The current account deficit for the month of March 2022 widened to $1.028 billion as compared with the deficit of $369 million in the last year and deficit of $519 million in February 2022.

Pakistan’s current account deficit had reached dollar $4.45 billion in fiscal year 2019/2020. However the deficit shrank to $2.82 billion in fiscal year 2020/2021.