Staff Reporter
Islamabad
The imports of plastic materials into the country witnessed negative growth of 5.30 percent during the financial year 2018-19 as compared to the corresponding period of last year. Pakistan imported plastic material worth $2222.855 million during July-June (2018-19) compared to the imports of $2347.222 million during July-June (2017-18), showing declined of 5.30 percent, according to latest data issued by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). In terms of quantity, Pakistan imported 1569.210 metric tons of plastic materials during the period under review compared to the imports of 1524.942 metric tons during corresponding period of last year, showing an increase of 2.90 percent in term of quantity.
Meanwhile, on year-on-year basis, the plastic imports witnessed negative growth of 18.22 percent in June 2019 when compared to the imports of the same month of last year. The plastic material imports during June 2019 were recorded at $ 156.413 million against the imports of $ 191.261 million in June 2018. On month-on-month basis, the plastic material imports witnessed negative growth of 27.34 percent during the June 2019 when compared to the imports of $ 215.262 million in May 2019, the PBS data revealed.
It is pertinent to mention here that the country’s merchandize trade deficit plunged by 15.33 percent during the fiscal year 2018-19 compared to the corresponding period of last year. The trade deficit contracted to $31.820 billion during July-June (2018-19) against the deficit of $37.583 billion recorded during July-June (2017-18). The exports during the period under review witnessed decrease of one percent by falling from $23.212 billion during last year to $22.979 billion during the ongoing fiscal year. On the other hand, the imports declined by 9.86 percent to $54.799 billion during the period under review from $60.795 billion last year, the data revealed. On year-on-year basis, the merchandize exports declined by 8.77 percent, from $1.882 billion in June 2018 to $1.717 billion in June 2019 while the imports declined by 22.80 percent from $5.652 billion in June 2018 to $4.364 billion in June 2019, the data revealed.
