Karachi: The trade deficit of Pakistan shrank 31.97% during the first seven months (July-January) of the current fiscal year, i.e. FY23, to clock in at $19.632 billion compared to the $29.859 billion recorded in the same period last year.
According to the monthly statistics on trade by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), a massive cut was observed in imports in line with the steps taken by the incumbent government to ease the pressure on import bills during the first seven months of FY23. Imports amounted to $36.1 billion during the period compared to the $46.598 billion that had been recorded during the same period last year.
Exports, however, also fell during the time to clock in at $16.469 billion from $17.739 billion recorded last year.
In January alone, the trade deficit shrank 22.71% on a year-on-year basis, as the trade imbalance amounted to $2.645 billion compared to the $3.422 billion that was recorded last year.
A similar trend was also observed on a month-on-month basis as the imbalance shrank by 6.9%.
It is pertinent to mention that the trade deficit of Pakistan had recorded a whopping increase of 55.7% during the fiscal year 2022, taking the total imbalance between imports and exports to $48.38 billion.
However, the steps taken by the government to ban the import of unessential items have proved to be a remedy to decrease the pressure of trade imbalance.
