Amid the ongoing surge in its imports, Pakistan’s trade deficit widened by 100.6 percent year-over-year (YoY) in the first quarter of Fiscal Year (FY) 2021-22.
The trade deficit, meaning the gap between imports and exports, swelled to $11.66 billion during the July-September period of 2021 from $5.81 billion in the same quarter last year, according to provisional data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
Similarly, the trade deficit expanded to $4.10 billion in September 2021 from $2.41 billion in the same month last year.
The country’s trade balance deteriorated during the last year as imports spiked and exports struggled to keep up.
Imports grew by 65.1 percent to $18.63 billion in the first three months of FY2021-22 from $11.29 billion in the same period in the last fiscal year.
Meanwhile, imports increased by 50.78 percent to $6.48 billion in September 2021 from $4.30 billion in August 2020. On a monthly basis, the imports decreased by 1.49 percent.
According to the PBS figures, exports rose by 27.32 percent to $6.97 billion in the first quarter of the current fiscal year from $5.47 billion in the corresponding period in FY2020-21.
In September 2021, exports grew by 26.13 percent to $2.38 billion from $1.89 billion in the same month last year. On a monthly basis, exports rose by 5.92 percent.
Earlier, Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce and Investment, Abdul Razak Dawood, told a national daily that the increase in imports was driven by the industrial sector’s rising demand for raw materials and capital goods.
He added that the surge in the prices of oil also contributed to the high import bill during a global spike in the demand for energy.
In August 2021, the trade gap had widened by 133 percent year-over-year to $4.06 billion.