Karachi: The mounting trade deficit of Pakistan, which had always been a thing to worry about for any government in the centre, shrank 39.62% in the first ten months of the current fiscal year, i.e. FY23.
According to the monthly statistics on trade by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), a massive drop has been observed in terms of imports as the total imports amounted to $ 46.887 billion compared to $65.579 billion recorded last year.
The total exports, however, also recorded a downfall of $3.1 billion during the period under review, clocking in at $23.174 billion from $26.274 billion last year.
The massive shrink in the imbalance between exports and imports came due to steps taken by the incumbent government to ease the pressure on forex reserves by curbing the import of luxurious items during FY23.
In April, the trade deficit fell 78% as the imbalance between imports and exports amounted to $829 million on a year-on-year basis.
It is pertinent to mention that the trade deficit of Pakistan recorded a whopping increase of 55.7% during the fiscal year 2022, taking the total imbalance between imports and exports to $48.38 billion.
However, the steps taken by the government to ban the import of unessential items have proven to be a remedy to decrease the pressure of trade imbalance.
