Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce and Investment, Abdul Razak Dawood on Friday said that the country’s exports increased by 18.7 percent to USD$ 2.546 billion in January 2022. The Ministry of Commerce would like to inform that in January 2022, our exports increased by 18.7 percent to USD$ 2.546 billion as compared to USD 2.145 billion in Jan 2021, the adviser commerce said this on his official twitter account. The Adviser said that for the first seven months of current FY (July-January 2022) the exports grew by 24 percent as compared to USD$ 14.255 billion, adding that a declining trend has been noticed in the monthly imports. Razak Dawood said that as compared to imports in December 2021, which stood at USD$ 7.580 billion the imports in January 2022 have declined by -22 percent to USD$ 5.908 billion. These were USD$ 4.803 billion in January 2021, he said. Exports to USA surged by 25pc YoY in January: The United States of America (USA) remained the top destination of Pakistan’s exports in January 2022 with $570 million worth of shipments against the exports of $456mn recorded in the same period last year, up by 25pc YoY. This was followed by China, wherein Pakistan exported products worth $230mn against the exports of $189mn in the same period last year (SPLY), showing an increase of 21pc, according to pre-PBS provisional data available with the Ministry of Commerce. While exports to Italy, the third top export destination, surged by 93pc YoY to $118mn from $61mn in SPLY. Next in line is Spain, the exports to Spain during January 2022 were recorded at $113mn against the exports of $78mn in the corresponding period last year, depicting a growth of 44pc during the said period. Among other countries, Pakistani exports to the United Arab Emirates increased by 24pc YoY to stand at $104mn against $83mn during the said period.