Daily Times

The balance of trade during the first two months of the fiscal year 2021-22 remained $7,581 million in deficit. According to the provisional figures released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Friday, in terms of Pakistan rupee, the trade deficit remained Rs1,229,481 million during the first two months of the current fiscal year against the corresponding period of the last financial year. The PBS data showed that Pakistan’s current account balance posted a deficit of $1.47 billion in August 2021, compared to a surplus of $225 million in the corresponding month last year. In the previous month, current account balance posted a deficit of $814 million, suggesting that the deficit jumped notably by 81pc on a month-on-month basis, mainly attributable to an increase in imports. Cumulatively, during July and August 2021, Pakistan’s current account balance stood at a deficit of $2.29 billion against a surplus of around $838 million in the corresponding period last year. “The recent rise in CAD reflects both the strong domestic recovery and higher int’l commodity prices,” the central bank said in a statement on its official Twitter handle. On September 6, SBP had said the country’s trade deficit widened to a whopping $7.49 billion in the first two months of the current fiscal year 2021-22. Exports increased 27.59 percent to $4.57 billion during July-August from $3.58 billion during the corresponding period of last year.