Current Account Deficit Shrinks to $0.28 Billion in November

Pakistan’s current account deficit decreased by over 85 percent on a year-on-year (YoY) basis to clock in at $0.28 billion in November, data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) showed on Friday.

The country had posted a deficit of $1.9 billion in November 2021. On a month-on-month (MoM) basis, the current account deficit decreased by 51 percent, compared to the $0.57 billion recorded in October.

In Nov22, the current account deficit shrank to $0.28bn from $0.57bn in Oct22. Cumulatively, during Jul-Nov22 it has contracted by more than half to $3.1bn against $7.2bn in Jul-Nov21, with imports falling by $4.8bn (-16%) & exports broadly unchanged. Link https://t.co/q3LNv3HgLs pic.twitter.com/wJymqbJqdn

— SBP (@StateBank_Pak) December 16, 2022

The data released by the central bank showed that the deficit during the first five months of the current fiscal year (5MFY23) declined by 57 percent to $3.1 billion, compared to a deficit of $7.2 billion recorded during the first five months of the previous fiscal year (5MFY22).

In its brief statement shared on Twitter, the central bank highlighted that during the five-month period the country’s imports have decreased by $4.8 billion while exports have remained broadly unchanged.

After falling to $0.36 billion in September due to stringent import restrictions, the deficit had surprisingly risen in October to $0.57 billion.