Karim Madad

Pakistan’s current account posted a deficit of $2.8 billion for the first four months of the ongoing fiscal against a deficit of $5.3 billion recorded in the corresponding period of the previous financial year, WealthPK reports.

The current account deficit decreased due to an increase in exports from the country and a contraction in imports. According to the latest monthly economic update and outlook released by the Ministry of Finance, the current account deficit stood at $567 million in October 2022 against $363 million in September 2022.

The report said that Pakistan’s exports grew by 2.6% during the first four months of the current fiscal and reached $9.8 billion as $9.6 billion in the same period of the previous financial year while imports to the country declined by 11.6% and dipped to $20.6 billion as compared $23.3 billion in the corresponding period of the last year.

The trade deficit in the first four months of the current financial year reached $10.8 billion against $13.7 billion in the last year. According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), exports increased by 1.1% and reached $9.6 billion in the ongoing year against $9.5 billion in the first four months of the last year.

The report of the Ministry of Finance said that the major export commodities included readymade garments; cotton cloth; knitwear; carpet, rugs and mats; footwear; footballs; and pharmaceutical products.

It said that imports to the country decreased to $21.1 billion in the first four months of the current fiscal against $25.1 billion in the same period of the previous financial year, showing a decline of 15.9%.

The report said that the main imported commodities included petroleum products with a volume of $2844.1 million, medicinal items with a volume of $477.7 million, crude petroleum with a volume of $1727.3 million, liquefied natural gas worth $1266.7 million, palm oil worth $1406.6 million, plastic materials worth $873.2 million and iron and steel with a volume of $695.3 million.

It said that foreign direct investment reached $348.3 million in the period under review as compared to $726.5 million in the previous year.

The report said that the country received $87.6 million from China, which was 17% of the total investment; $73.2 million from the United Arab Emirates, 14.2% of the total investment; $61.5 million from the Netherlands, 12.0% of total investment; and $48.2 million from Switzerland, which was 9.4% of the total foreign direct investment.

It said that the power sector attracted the highest foreign direct investment of $168.9 million, which was 32.8% of the total investment; financial business $105.1 million, which was 20.4% of the total investment; and the communication sector got $51.6 million, which was 10% of the total investment.

The report said that foreign private portfolio investment registered a net outflow of $15.6 million during the first four months of the current fiscal and foreign public investment recorded a net outflow of $18.2 million while the portfolio investment recorded an outflow of $33.8 million during the period under review against the outflow of $238.7 million in the previous financial year.

The total foreign investment during the first months of the ongoing fiscal reached $314.5 million as compared to $487.8 million in the corresponding period of the last year.

It said that worker remittances during the period under review were recorded at $9.9 billion against $10.8 billion in the last year. On a month-on-month, basis, remittances decreased by 9.1% in October 2022 and dipped to $2.2 billion as compared to $2.4 billion in September 2022.

The report said that $2459.5 million of remittances were sent from Saudi Arabia, $1888.9 million from UAE, $1367.9 million from the UK, $1069.9 million from the USA, $1135.4 million from other member countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council, $1061.5 million from European Union and $47.0 million from Malaysia.

The total liquid foreign exchange reserves of the country increased to $13.8 billion on November 11, 2022, with the reserves of the State Bank of Pakistan standing at $7.96 billion and those of commercial banks at $5.83 billion, according to the report available with WealthPK.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk