Pakistan’s Exports Fall for 5th Consecutive Month in January to Just $2.21 Billion

Pakistan’s exports continued their downward trend for the fifth consecutive month in January 2023, the exports during the month declined by 4.41 percent to $2.21 billion compared to the exports of $2.313 billion in December 2022, official data issued by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) showed on Thursday.

The imports into the country also decreased by 5.78 percent to $4.86 billion in January 2023 compared to the imports of $5.154 billion in December 2022, according to the data.

The trade deficit narrowed by 6.90 percent on a month-on-month basis and stood at $2.645 billion in January 2023 compared to $2.841 billion in December 2022. On a year-on-year basis, exports witnessed a decline of 15.42 percent in January 2023 against the exports of $2.614 billion in January 2022.

The imports decreased to $4.856 billion in January 2023 from $6.036 billion in January 2022, showing negative growth of 19.55 percent. The trade deficit narrowed by 22.71 percent on a YoY basis to $2.645 billion in January 2023 compared to $3.422 billion in January 2022.

Trade deficit for First 7 Months

Pakistan’s trade deficit narrowed by 31.97 percent to $19.632 billion during the first seven months (July-January) of the current fiscal year 2022-23 (FY23) as compared to $28.859 billion during the same period of last year.

The country’s exports during July-January (2022-23) were recorded at $16.469 billion against the exports of $17.739 billion in July-January FY22, showing a decline of 7.16 percent. The imports decreased by 22.53 percent during July-January (2022-23), going down from $46.598 billion last year to $36.101 billion during the current year.