Islamabad: August trade deficit of Pakistan swelled by 31% to hit 3.5 billion on a month-on-month basis, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) said in a report on Thursday.
According to the revised summary on trade by the PBS, during August – the second month of the fiscal year 2023 – the total exports and imports amounted to $2.48 billion and $6 billion, respectively. Whereas, in July of FY23, the total exports and imports amounted to $2.25 billion and $4.99 billion, respectively.
On a month-on-month basis, the trade deficit in August was recorded at 31%.
Pakistan’s exports, imports down in July: PBS
However, on a year-on-year basis, the trade deficit stood at 17.1% because exports and imports in August of FY22 amounted to $2.24 billion and $6.57 billion, respectively.
Cumulatively, the total trade imbalance recorded in the first two months (July and August) of FY23 clocked in at $6.32 billion. Compared to the same period of FY22, when the trade deficit amounted to $7.56 billion, the total trade deficit stands at 16.36% so far in the first two months.
Whopping $48.38bn trade deficit recorded during FY22
It is important to know that Pakistan’s trade imbalance recorded a whopping increase of 55.7pc during the fiscal year 2022, taking the total imbalance between imports and exports to $48.38 billion
