ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday expressed satisfaction that Pakistan’s economy was finally heading towards the “right direction” as economic reforms have begun bearing fruit.
In a tweet shared on his official handle, the premier stated that Pakistan’s current account turned positive [into surplus] in October 2019, for the first time after a gap of four years.
“Current account balance was +$99 million in Oct 2019 [as] compared to -$284 million in Sept 2019 [and] -$1,280 million in Oct 2018,” he stated.
In another tweet, he informed that for the first four months (Jul-Oct) of the current fiscal year, the current account deficit has fallen by 73.5pc as compared to the same period of previous year. “Our exports of goods & services in Oct 2019 rose 20pc over previous month and 9.6pc over Oct 2018. I congratulate our exporters & encourage them to do more,” added the premier.
For first 4 months of our fiscal year our current account deficit has fallen by 73.5 % compared to same period last fiscal yr. Our exports of goods & services in Oct 2019 rose 20% over previous month and 9.6% over Oct 2018. I congratulate our exporters & encourage them to do more
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) November 19, 2019
The latest data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) showed the government has succeeded in bringing down the current account deficit.
The data for October showed the current account was positive 99 million against a net deficit of $1.28 billion in the same month of the previous fiscal year.
The surplus in October and narrowing of four-month current account deficit was mainly achieved due to a massive cut in the import bill.
The government is facing criticism that the massive decline in imports have slowdown overall economic activities which would ultimately hit the GDP growth rate. The SBP governor, however, said the fall in current account deficit is a big achievement for country and is a sign of macroeconomic stability.
current account deficit is one of the key performance indicator of economy but government ignore other key performance indicators such as gross domestic product inflation ,exports, unemployment .