ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has imported medicinal products worth $929.355 million during the first ten months of the current fiscal year, showing a growth of 3.54pc, as compared to the import of $897.564 million during the corresponding period of last year.
According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Monday, Pakistan imported 19,183 metric tonnes of medicinal products during July-April 2018-2019, as compared to the imports of 18,441 metric tonnes during July-April 2017-2018, an increase of 4.02pc in term of quantity.
On a year-on-year basis, the imports of medicines witnessed a negative growth of 19.41pc in April 2019, as compared to the imports of April 22018. The medicinal imports during April 2019 were recorded at $102.009 million as against the imports of $126.570 million in April 2018.
Meanwhile, on a month-on-month basis, the imports of medicinal products witnessed a growth of 21.45pc during April 2019, as compared to the imports of $83.993 million in March 2018.
It is pertinent to mention that the country’s merchandise trade deficit plunged by 12.82pc during the first ten months of the current fiscal year as compared to the corresponding period of last year.
The trade deficit contracted by $3.867 billion to $26.302 billion during July-April 2018-19, as against the deficit of $30.169 billion recorded during July-April 2017-18.
The exports during the period under review witnessed a nominal decrease of 0.12pc, as it fell from $19.191 billion last year to $19.169 billion during the ongoing fiscal year.
On the other hand, the imports declined by 7.88pc to $45.471 billion during the period under review from $49.360 billion last year.
