KARACHI – Pakistan’s current account deficit surged to $1.91 billion in November 2021 as it was being expected by the market due to high import bills.
The current account, which shows gap between foreign payments and inflows, balance witnessed a surplus of $563 million in the same period of last year, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Monday.
In October, the deficit stood at $1.76 billion. It was 8% lower than the deficit witnessed in the month under review.
According to official data, the current account deficit has reached $7.08 billion in the first five months of the running fiscal year 2021-22. The figure during the same period in last year recorded at $1.86 billion.
Current account deficit widened slightly to $1.91bn in Nov from $1.76bn in Oct, as imports outstripped strong exports & robust remittances. Imports were mainly lifted by high international commodity prices in addition to strong domestic economic recovery. https://t.co/Od8ikVvpBF pic.twitter.com/QhjegqdcDd
— SBP (@StateBank_Pak) December 20, 2021
The central bank wrote on Twitter: “Current account deficit widened slightly to $1.91 billion in November from $1.76 billion in October as imports outstripped strong exports and robust remittances.”
It further added that imports were mainly lifted by high international commodity prices in addition to strong domestic economic recovery.
