Pakistan’s petroleum group imports witnessed a growth of 6.97 percent during the first two months (July-August) of the current fiscal year 2023 (FY23) and stood at $3.302 billion compared to $3.087 billion during the same period of last fiscal year, says Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
According to the latest data released by PBS, in August 2022, the petroleum group imports registered a 29.93 percent growth on a month-on-month (MoM) basis and stood at $1.865 billion compared to $1.436 billion in July 2022. The import in August registered 6.1 percent growth on a year-on-year (YoY) basis when compared to $1.756 billion in August 2021.
Petroleum products witnessed 7.75 percent growth during 2MFY23 and remained at $1.658 billion compared to $1.539 billion during the same period of last fiscal year.
On a MoM basis, they remained at $930.566 million in August 2022 compared to $728.081 million in July 2021. On a YoY basis, petroleum product imports witnessed a growth of 4.33 percent against $891.951 million in August 2021.
Petroleum crude imports witnessed a growth of 10.46 percent during the 2MFY23 and remained at $904.522 million compared to $818.884 million during the same period of last year.
On a MoM basis, petroleum crude imports registered a 9.82 percent growth and remained at $473.419 million compared to $431.103 million in July 2022. On a YoY basis, petroleum crude imports witnessed a growth of 7 percent against $442.468 million in August 2021.
Natural Gas (Liquefied) imports witnessed a negative growth of 3.37 percent during 2MFY23 and remained at $629.453 million compared to $651.413 million during the same period of last fiscal year.
The imports of agricultural and other chemicals group witnessed 23.03 percent negative growth during 2MFY23 and remained at $1.702 billion compared to $2.213 billion during the same period of last fiscal year.
Total imports
Total imports of the country during July and August 2022 stood at $11.064 billion (provisional) against $12.152 billion during the corresponding period of last year, showing a decrease of 8.95 percent. The imports in August 2022 were $6.071 billion (provisional) against $4.993 billion in July 2022, showing an increase of 21.59 percent. However, they decreased by 7.69 percent as compared to $6.577 billion in August 2021.
Main commodities imported during August 2022 were petroleum products (Rs. 205,549 million), petroleum crude (Rs.104,572 million), palm oil (Rs. 92,096 million), natural gas liquefied (Rs.88,118 million), plastic materials (Rs. 46,649 million), wheat un-milled (Rs.44,977 million), electrical machinery and apparatus (Rs.43,114 million) iron and steel scrap (Rs.34,396 million), raw cotton (Rs. 32,916 million) and iron and steel (Rs.32,617 million).
Trade deficit
Pakistan’s trade deficit narrowed by 17.13 percent during 2MFY23 and stood at $6.327 billion compared to $7.565 billion during the same period of the last fiscal year. The trade deficit widened by 28.89 percent on a MoM basis to $3.53 billion in August 2022 compared to $2.739 billion in July 2022.
