Islamabad
Adviser to the Prime Minister on Commerce and Investment, Abdul Razak Dawood has said that Pakistan’s exports remained $2.345 billion in the month of March 2021, adding it has been the first time since 2011 that exports have crossed the $2 billion mark for six consecutive months.
In a series of tweets on Thursday, Abdul Razak Dawood said that exports witnessed a growth of 13.4 percent on a month-on-month (MoM) basis in March 2021. “The export growth of 29.3 percent over March 2020 should not be considered as it is misleading since there was a lockdown last year,” he explained.
The imports in March 2021 grew to $5.313 billion and this increase was mainly due to increased imports of petroleum, wheat, soy bean, machinery, raw material, chemicals, mobile phones, fertilizers, tyres and antibiotics & vaccines in March 2021, he further said.
He said that cumulatively, during the first nine months (July-March) of the current fiscal year, Pakistan’s exports increased by 7 percent to $18.669 billion as compared to $17.451 billion in the corresponding period last year.
During the same period, the import grew by 12 percent to $39.210 billion as compared to $34.817 billion in the last fiscal year.
This growth has come from an increase in the import of raw material as well as the import of wheat, sugar and cotton, he further said.
The trade deficit in March 2021 was recorded at $2.968 billion with imports of $5.313 billion and exports of $2.345 billion.
According to the provisional figures provided by the advisor on commerce, the trade deficit during the first nine months (July-March) of the current fiscal year has gone up by 18.28 percent on a year-on-year basis.
The trade deficit during the first nine months of the current year remained $20.541 billion against $17.366 billion recorded in the same period of the last financial year. —TLTP
