The imports of overall petroleum group witnessed an increase of 99.14pc during the first eleven months of the current fiscal year (2021-22) as compared to the corresponding period of the last year. During the period under review, the total imports of the petroleum group stood at $19.679b, as against the imports of $9.882b last year, according to the latest data issued by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). Among petroleum commodities, the import of petroleum products rose by 126.17pc, from $4.431b last year to $10.022b during the period under review. The imports of petroleum crud also increased by 74.70pc, from $2.724b last year to $5.7591b during July-May (2021-22) whereas the imports of liquefied natural gas surged by 86.29pc from $2.302b to $4.289b. Similarly, the import of liquefied petroleum gas grew by 43.50pc, from $422.917m to $606.892m. However, the imports of all other petroleum group commodities decreased by 19.04pc, from $0.305m to $0.247m, the data revealed. Meanwhile, on year-on-year basis, the petroleum group imports witnessed an increase 123.40pc during the month of May 2022 as compared to the same month of last year. The petroleum imports during May 2022 were recorded at $2.645b against the imports of $1.184b during May 2021. On month-on-month basis, the petroleum imports into the country also increased by 19pc during May 2022 when compared to the imports of $2.223b in April 2022, the data revealed. It is pertinent to mention here that during the first eleven months, the overall merchandize imports went up by 44.28pc by growing from $50.028b during July-May (2020-21) to $72.182b in July-May (2021-22). The exports also witnessed an increase of 27.78pc and were recorded at $28.848b during the period against the exports of $22.576b recorded last year. Based on the data, the overall trade deficit during the period under review was recorded at $43.334b, showing an increase of 57.85pc over the deficit of $27.452b recorded during last year, the PBS data revealed.