Daily Times

The country faced a trade deficit of $3.104 billion in the first month of the fiscal year 2021-22, which surged by 85.53 percent in July 2021 as compared to a deficit of $1.673 billion recorded in July 2020.

According to the data released by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics on Monday, the exports from the country witnessed an increase of 16.44 percent during July 2021-22 as compared to the corresponding month of last year. According to PBS data, the exports from the country stood at $2.330 billion during July 2021 against the exports of $2.001 billion recorded during July 2020, showing growth of 16.44 percent.

On a month-on-month basis, the exports from the country witnessed negative growth of 14.59 percent during July 2021 when compared to the exports of $2.728 recorded during June 2021. On the other hand, the imports into the country during the month under review also went up by 47.90 percent by growing from $3.674 billion in July 2020 to $5.434 billion in July 2021. Likewise, the imports into the country during July 2021 also witnessed 14.45 percent decline when compared to the imports of $6.352 billion in June 2021, according to the PBS data.

The government’s battle against an increasing trade deficit is reversing as it widened 85.53 percent in the first month of the current fiscal year (FY22), driven largely by almost double the increase in imports compared to exports from the country.

Trade deficit reached an all-time high of $37.7 billion in the fiscal year 2017-18. However, the government’s measures led to a drop in trade deficit to $31.8 billion in 2018-19 and $23.183 billion in 2019-20. The trend reversed and the trade deficit was recorded at $30.796 billion in the fiscal year 2020-21. The trade gap has been widening since December 2020, mainly led by exponential growth in imports and comparatively slow growth in exports.