Pakistan’s trade deficit widened by 100 percent during the first half of the current financial year 2021-22 due to a relentless increase in imports.
The trade deficit, which represents the gap between imports and exports, swelled to $24.78 billion during the July-December period of 2021 from $12.36 billion in the same period last year, according to provisional data.
On a year-on-year basis, the trade deficit increased by 57% to $4.1 billion in December 2021 from $2.63 billion in the same month last year, according to provisional data.
According to provisional trade figures, imports of the first six months (July-December) of 2021-22 reached $39.91 billion as compared to $24.47 billion in the corresponding period of 2020-21, up by 63 percent.
Imports grew by 38 percent to $6.9 billion in December 2021 from $5 billion in December 2020. On a monthly basis, the imports decreased by 13 percent. Provisional trade data for the month of December 2021 showed a decrease of $1 billion in imports.
Exports rose by 16.7 percent to $2.76 billion in December 2021 from $2.36 billion in the same month last year. On a monthly basis, they fell by 5 percent.
According to the Advisor to the PM on Commerce, Abdul Razak Dawood, exports soared 16.7 percent to $2.76 billion, while imports decreased by $1 billion to $6.9 billion.
The Commerce Advisor tweeted that the government’s export target for the month of December was US$ 2.8 billion. For imports, he remarked that the projection for the period under review was US$ 6.2 billion.
Dawood explained that during the first half of the current financial year (Jul-Dec 2021), Pakistan’s exports have increased by 25 percent to USD 15.125 billion as compared to USD 12.110 billion during the same period last year. “The Export Target for [the] first half of this FY was USD 15 billion,” he added.
He also informed, “further details on categories of export & import during Dec 2021 will be shared soon as we compile them”.
