KARACHI: The total import bill of Pakistan has crossed a record $80 billion mark, showing 42 per cent increase during fiscal year 2021/2022, according to official data released on Tuesday.
The total import bill of the country increased to $80.02 billion during fiscal year 2021/2022 as compared with $58.38 billion in the preceding fiscal year, according to data released by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
The exports of the country also posted an increase of 25.51 per cent to $31.76 billion during the fiscal year under review as compared with $25.30 billion in the preceding fiscal year.
Pakistan posted a record trade deficit of $48.26 billion in the fiscal year 2021/2022 as compared with the deficit of $31.07 billion in the preceding year, showing an expansion in deficit of 55.29 per cent.
The import bill in June 2021 increased by 14 per cent to $7.72 billion when compared with $6.77 billion in the month of May 2022. It was increased by 21.57 per cent when compared with $6.35 billion in June 2021.
The exports posted an increase of 10 per cent to $2.88 billion in June 2022 when compared with $2.63 billion in May 2022. The exports increased by 5.83 per cent when compared $2.73 billion with June 2021.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s trade deficit ballooned to $43.33 billion during first 11 months (July – May) of fiscal year 2021/2022 owing to massive rise in import bill during the same period.
According to trade data released by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Thursday, the trade deficit widened by 58 per cent to $43.334 billion during first eleven months of the current fiscal year as compared with $27.45 billion in the corresponding months of the last fiscal year.
Pakistan’s import bill massively increased to $72.18 billion during the period under review as compared with $50.03 billion in the same period of the last fiscal year, showing an increase of 44.28 per cent.
On the other hand, exports have increased by 28 per cent to $28.85 billion during July – May 2021/2022 as compared with $22.57 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.
The exports registered 55.66 per cent growth to $2.60 billion in the month of May 2022 as compared with $1.67 billion in the same month of the last year.
Meanwhile, import bill for the month of May 2022 increased by 25.43 per cent to $6.44 billion as compared with $5.297 billion in the same month of the last year.
This resulted in widening of trade deficit by 11.50 per cent to $4.043 billion in the month of May 2022 as compared with the deficit of $3.62 billion in the same month of the last year.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s imports reached to record high at $65.49 billion during first 10 months (July – April) 2021/2022, according to data released by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
The import bill increased by 46.41 per cent to $65.47 billion during first 10 months of the current fiscal year as compared with $44.73 billion in the corresponding months of the current fiscal year.
On the other hand, the exports of the country registered a growth of 25.46 per cent to $26.23 billion during the period under review as compared with $20.9 billion in the same period of the last fiscal year.
The trade deficit sharply widened by 64.79 per cent to $39.26 billion during July – April 2021/2022 as compared with $23.83 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.
The exports of the country recorded an increase of 29.53 per cent to $2.87 billion in the month of April 2022 as compared with $2.22 billion in the same month of the last year.
The import bill in April 2022 recorded an increase of 26.19 per cent to $6.62 billion as compared with $5.42 billion in the same month last year.
The trade deficit ballooned by 23.74 per cent to $3.74 billion in April 2022 as compared with $3.02 billion in April 2021.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s trade deficit in the month of March 2022 increased by only 5.5 per cent due to higher growth of exports during the month.
According to data released by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Monday, the exports recorded a growth of 16 per cent to $2.74 billion in March 2022 as compared with $2.36 billion in the corresponding month of the last year.
On the other hand, import bill registered an increase of 10 per cent to $6.19 billion in the month of March 2022 as compared with $5.63 billion in the same month of the last year.
Therefore, the trade deficit for the month of March 2022 was recorded at $3.45 billion as compared with the deficit of $3.27 billion in March 2021, showing an increase of 5.5 per cent.
Overall the trade deficit widened by 70 per cent to $35.39 billion during first nine months (July – March) 2021/2022 as compared with the deficit of $20.8 billion in the corresponding months of the last fiscal year.
The exports of the country recorded an increase of 24.67 per cent to $23.3 billion during first nine months of the current fiscal year as compared with $18.7 billion in the same months of the last fiscal year.
Meanwhile, import bill registered an increase of 48.63 per cent to $58.69 billion during July – March 2021/2022 as compared with $39.49 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.
The balance of trade registered a deficit of 11.63 per cent to $3.45 billion in March 2022 as compared with the deficit of $3.09 billion in February 2022.
The exports recorded a decline of 3 per cent to $2.74 billion in March 2022 as compared with $2.82 billion in February 2022.
However, import bill recorded 4.72 per cent increase to $6.19 billion in March 2022 when compared with $5.9 billion in the previous month of 2022.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s trade deficit has widened to around $32 billion in first eight months (July – February) 2021/2022 8MFY22, according to official data released on Wednesday.
The trade deficit widened by 82.26 per cent during the period under review as compared with the deficit of $17.53 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year, showed the data released by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
The country’s exports registered an increase of 26 per cent to $20.55 billion during first eight months of the current fiscal year as compared with $16.32 billion in the same period of the last fiscal year.
The import bill surged by 55 per cent to $52.5 billion during July – February 2021/2022 as compared with $33.86 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.
The trade deficit ballooned by 22 per cent to $3.1 billion in February 2022 as compared with the deficit of $2.53 billion in the same month of the last year.
The exports during the month of February 2022 recorded a sharp increase of 36 per cent to $2.81 billion as compared with $2.07 billion in the same month of the last year.
The import bill registered an increase of 28.3 per cent to $5.9 billion in February 2022 as compared with $4.6 billion in the same month of the last year.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s trade deficit has widened by 92 per cent during first seven months (July – January) of fiscal year 2021/2022, official statistics revealed on Wednesday.
The trade deficit ballooned to $28.8 billion during the first seven months of the current fiscal year as compared with $15 billion in the corresponding months of the last fiscal year, according to data released by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
The exports exhibited a growth of 24 per cent to $17.67 billion during the period under review as compared with $14.25 billion in the same period of the last fiscal year.
Meanwhile, the import bill of the country surged by 59 per cent to $46.47 billion during first seven months of the current fiscal year as compared with $29.25 billion in the corresponding months of the last fiscal year.
The trade deficit widened by 26.49 per cent to $3.36 billion in the month of January 2022 as compared with the deficit of $2.66 billion in the same month of the last year.
The exports increased by 18.69 per cent to $2.55 billion in January 2022 as compared with $2.145 billion in the same month of the last year.
Similarly, the imports grew by 23 per cent to $5.9 billion in the month of January 2022 as compared with $4.8 billion in the same month of the last year.
However, imports registered a massive decline of 22 per cent to $5.9 billion in January 2022 as compared with $7.58 billion in the month of December 2021.
Similarly, exports fell by 8 per cent to $2.54 billion in January 2022 as compared with $2.76 billion in the previous month.
The trade deficit recorded a decline of 30 per cent to $3.36 billion in January 2022 as compared with the deficit of $4.81 billion in December 2021.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s trade deficit has doubled to $24.8 billion during first half (July – December) of 2021/2022 1HFY22. The trade deficit was $12.36 billion in the same half of the last fiscal year.
The import bill of the country surged by 63 per cent to $40 billion during the first half of the current fiscal year as compared with $24.47 billion in the same half of the last fiscal year, according to data shared by Arif Habib Limited.
The exports registered a growth of 25 per cent to $15.13 billion during first six months of the current fiscal year as compared with $12.11 billion in the corresponding months of the last fiscal year.
The trade deficit for the month of December 2021 contracted by 18 per cent to $4.14 billion as compared with $5.03 billion in November 2021.
Import bill of the country declined by 13 per cent to $6.9 billion in December 2021 as compared with $7.93 billion in November 2021. Meanwhile exports of the country also fell by five per cent to $2.76 billion in December 2021 as compared with $2.9 billion in November 2021.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s trade deficit ballooned by 112 per cent to $20.59 billion during the first five months (July – November) of the current fiscal year 2021/2022, according to official data released on Thursday.
The trade deficit was at $9.72 billion in the same months of the last fiscal year, revealed by the data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
Pakistan’s import bill surged by 69.17 per cent to $32.934 billion during July – November 2021/2022 as compared with $19.468 billion in the same period of the last fiscal year.
The exports of the country also exhibited by 26.68 per cent to $12.344 billion during the period under review as compared with $9.744 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.
The country reported $4.963 billion as trade deficit for the month of November 2021. The trade deficit has swelled by 134 per cent in November 2021 as compared with the deficit of $2.121 billion in the same month of the last year.
The import bill registered a phenomenal growth of 82.83 per cent to $7.847 billion in November 2021 as compared with $4.292 billion in the same month of the last year.
The exports also grew by 33 per cent to $2.884 billion in November 2021 as compared with $2.171 billion in the same month of the last year.
Miftah Ismail, Former Federal Minister for Finance, has pointed out key reasons behind the massive depreciation in Pak Rupee (PKR) against the dollar.
Ismail, who is also General Secretary of PML-N Sindh, in his Tweet on Sundh pointed out a thread on the four main reasons for the recent precipitous decline in the value of the rupee.
A: Uncertainty about the renewal of the IMF program
B: Largest trade deficit and fastest-growing imports in history
C: Fourth highest inflation rates among major countries.
D: Rapid increase in the money supply.
Ismail explained that uncertainty about the renewal of the IMF program behind the rupee weakness.
The former finance minister said: “Our program was ‘revived’ earlier this year and we were supposed to get a $1 billion tranche in July 2021. We are now in November and still, there isn’t an agreement. This is giving markets jitters.”
In his opinion largest trade deficit and fastest-growing imports are the second major reason for the rupee fall.
“We are on track for imports of $75 billion or over 24 per cent of the GDP. Both these are the highest in history. This year exports will cover only 37 per cent of imports, down from 44 per cent in 2018. We are moving in the wrong direction.”
Our trade deficit in on track to be $47 billion or 15 per cent of the GDP. Again both numbers are highest in the history. Current account deficit will be around 5 per cent of the GDP. But for the healthy remittances due to decreased travel etc. we would have recorded the second-highest current account deficit
The former finance minister said that in our history, after the one of 8.1 per cent in 2007/2008, the last year of Gen. Musharraf. The increased net demand of dollars from foreign trade is thus putting pressure on the Pak rupee. “Until we slow down imports or increase exports, the rupee will continue to be under pressure.”
Another reason highlighted by the former finance minister is the highest inflation rates among major countries.
A recent issue of The Economist showed that Pak has the fourth-highest inflation among major counties, two of whom we don’t even have much trade with. “We also have the highest inflation in South Asia.”
Given that our inflation is more than our trading partners, our exports goods become more expensive and import goods become cheaper. This increases our real effective exchange rate and puts pressure on the rupee.
Miftah Ismail continued that our money supply has grown from Rs 4.7 trillion to Rs 7 trillion, an increase of 49 per cent.
Dr Hafeez Pasha estimates that a 1 per cent increase in money forces a 0.6 per cent rise in inflation. The primary cause of money supply increase is record-high government budget deficits.
“There are other reasons for the continuous devaluation, political uncertainty for one, but these four —-interlinked as they are— I think are the major reasons.”
Federal Minister for Energy Hammad Azhar in his tweet replied to Miftah Ismail saying: “I thought Miftah sahib was reminiscing about PML-N’s economy. Back then they managed to create such conditions without Covid shocks. The truth is that trade deficit now has risen due to price effect (same goods but more $ outflow due to high prices) rather than volume effect.”
ISLAMABAD: The import bill of Pakistan surged by 65.15 per cent during the first four months (July – October) of 2021/2022, according to official statistics released on Tuesday.
The import bill increased to $25.06 billion during the first four months of the current fiscal year as compared with $15.17 billion in the same period of the last fiscal year, according to data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
On the other hand, exports of the country registered a growth of 24.71 per cent to $9.44 billion during the first four months of the current fiscal year as compared with $7.57 billion in the corresponding months of the last year.
The trade deficit of the country swelled by 105.43 per cent to $15.62 billion during July – October of the current fiscal year as compared with the deficit of $7.60 billion in the same period of the last fiscal year.
The trade deficit widened by 117 per cent to $3.88 billion in October 2021 when compared with the deficit of 1.789 billion in the same month of the last year.
The import bill during the month of October 2021 increased by 63 per cent to $6.334 billion as against $3.89 billion in the same month of the last year.
Similarly, the exports exhibited a growth of 16.52 per cent to $2.45 billion in October 2021 as compared with $2.1 billion in the same month of the last year.
