Pakistan’s trade deficit witnessed a decline of 32.65% during the first half (July-December) of the current fiscal year (2022-23) compared to the corresponding period of last year, WealthPK reported. According to Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), trade deficit during July-December FY23 was recorded at $17.133 billion against the deficit of $25.438 billion during the corresponding period of FY22.

Exports during the period under review were recorded at $14.249 billion against $15.125 billion during the same period of last year, showing a decline of 5.79%. Imports witnessed a sharp decline of 22.63%, falling from $40.563 billion last year to $31.382 billion during the current fiscal year.

On a year-on-year (YoY) basis, exports witnessed a decline of 16.64% and were recorded at $2.304 billion during December 2022 against the exports of $2.764 billion during December 2021. Imports also decreased to $5.161 billion during December 2022 from $7.580 billion during December 2021.

On a month-on-month (MoM) basis, exports during December 2022 declined by 3.64% compared to the exports of $2.391 billion during November 2022.Imports also declined by 0.41% during December 2022 compared to imports of $5.182 billion during November 2022.

Services exports went up by 3.97% during the first five months (July-November) of the current fiscal year compared to the same period of last year. Services trade during the period under review was recorded at $2.259 billion against the exports of $2.172 billion last year. Imports of services witnessed an 11.83% decrease, going down from $3.483 billion during last fiscal year to $3.071 billion during the current fiscal year.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk