Fozia Azam

Imports of cars declined sharply in the first five months of the current fiscal year i-e 2022-23, for both the Completely Built Up (CBU) and Semi-Knocked Down (SKD)/Completely Knocked Down (CKD) units. The imports of CBU units declined by 81.79% while the imports of SKD/CKD units decreased by 31.43%, compared with the same period of the previous fiscal year, according to the date released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

The data showed that imports of SKD/CKD units stood at USD 455.780 million in the five months from July through November in the going fiscal year as compared to USD 664.740 million in the same months of 2021. This showed that a decline of 31.43% took place in the imports of SKD/CKD units this year over the previous year in the months under consideration.

Pakistan imported 101,569 units of CKD/SKD cars during the months under review as compared to 111,350 units during the same months of the last year. Similarly, Pakistan imported 6,056 CBU motorcars worth USD 27.407 million during the months from July through November in the going fiscal year as compared to 25,133 cars worth USD 150.500 last year, showing a decline of 81.79 percent.

Overall, the imports in the transport group declined by 46.77% during the months under review, as this year they stood at USD 1,022.346 while last year they were USD 1,920.749. The data also showed that overall merchandise exports of the country declined by 20.15% from USD 32,983 million in the five months of the last year to USD 26,338 million in the first five months of the current fiscal year. Based on these figures, the trade deficit during the first five months of the current fiscal year witnessed a decline of 30.14% and was recorded at USD 14,406 million as against USD 20,621 million last year.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk