Pakistan’s trade deficit narrowed by 43.03 percent to $27.547 billion during the fiscal year 2022-23 (July-June) as compared to $48.354 billion during the same period of last year, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) said.
The country’s exports during the fiscal year 2022-23 (July-June) were recorded at $27.744 billion against exports of $31.782 billion in fiscal year 2021-22, a decline of 12.71 percent, according to the trade data released by the PBS on Monday.
The imports decreased by 31 percent during the period under review by going down from $80.136 billion in 2021-22 to $55.291 billion during the fiscal year 2022-23.
On a year-on-year basis, exports witnessed a decline of 18.71 percent and were recorded at $2.366 billion in June 2023 against the exports of $2.911 billion in June 2022.
The imports also decreased to $4.180 billion in June 2023 from $7.857 billion in June 2022, showing negative growth of 46.80 percent. The trade deficit narrowed by 63.32 percent on a YoY basis to $1.814 billion in June 2023 compared to $4.946 billion in June 2022.
On a month-on-month basis, the exports during June 2023 increased by 7.55 percent compared to the exports of $2.200 billion in May 2023. The imports decreased by 3.42 percent in June 2023 compared to the imports of $4.328 billion in May 2023, according to the data.
The trade deficit narrowed by 14.76 percent on a month-on-month basis and stood at $1.814 billion in June 2023 compared to $2.128 billion in May 2023.
Import restrictions
It is pertinent to mention here that the reduced trade deficit was achieved by introducing stringent import restriction measures. The restrictions severely impacted Pakistan’s imports and even caused a shortage of raw materials for many industries.
The government had introduced these measures as the country’s reserve depleted sharply due to debt repayments and skyrocketing import bill. However, late last month, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) announced that it is removing all import restrictions.
