By Sarfaraz Abbasi
ISLAMABAD – Pakistan’s trade deficit contracted by 14% to $3.10 billion in July 2021 in contrast with $3.62 billion during the previous month of June 2021 as the imports faced a dip.
The PBS in its report said that the country’s imports declined by 15% on the month on month basis to $2.33 billion during the first month of the new fiscal year 2021-22 as compared to $2.73 billion in the last month.
Similarly, export dropped by 14%MoM to $5.43 billion in July 2021 compared to June 2021. The drop came largely due to a double-digit slump in imports. Pakistan took curative steps to decrease stress on foreign exchange reserves.
However, trade statistics of July 2021 if compared with the data of the same period last year, imports increased by 16% YoY (Year on Year) basis while exports surged significantly by 48%YoY.
It seems that the many much-needed adjustments have already been undertaken, thus, going forward, there would not be well in line with the expectations of both the Central Bank and the Commerce Ministry.
However, in order to further reduce the trade deficit, Pakistan needs to explore more and more new markets for its products and services.
Prime Minister Imran Khan has already taken numerous measures to fix the external accounts.
