Saba Javed

Pakistan’s exports increased by 22.61% in rupee terms during the first seven months of the current fiscal year (2022-23) in comparison to the same period last year. The preliminary figures by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) revealed that exports from July through January of 2022–23 were Rs 3,705,935 million, up 22.61% from Rs 3,022,640 million during the same period of the previous year.

The country’s exports increased by 14.02% from Rs 460,856 million in January 2022 to Rs 525,461 million in January 2023. The exports grew by 1.09% compared to Rs 519,817 million in December 2022. The primary export items in January 2023 were knitwear (Rs 78,859 million), ready-made clothing (Rs. 68,566 million), bedwear (Rs 49,490 million), cotton cloth (Rs 37,225 million), rice other than Basmati (Rs. 23,630 million), towels (Rs 21,33 million), cotton yarn (Rs 15,891 million), and made-up articles other than towels (Rs 9,350 million).

While imports increased by 2.10% from July to January (2022-23) to a total of Rs 8,106,466 million from Rs 7,939,363 million during the same period of the previous year. In January 2023, imports totalled Rs 1,141,525 million compared to Rs 1,158,313 million in December 2022 and Rs 1,064,154 million in January 2022. This shows a 1.45% drop over December 2022 but a 7.27% rise over January 2022.

The primary import items during January 2023 were petroleum products (Rs 160,996 million), palm oil (Rs 85,283 million), petroleum crude (Rs 75,929 million), liquefied natural gas (Rs 56,845 million), iron & steel (Rs 51,158 million), plastic materials (Rs 48,890 million), raw cotton (Rs 43,235 million), wheat, unmilled (Rs 38,709 million), and electric machinery (Rs 26,323 million).

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk