Current account records surplus of $13m in May

KARACHI: The country’s current account balance recorded a surplus of $13 million in May 2020, as compared to the deficit of $1.004 billion recorded in May 2019, according to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan on Wednesday.

This is the first time a surplus has been recorded since October 2019, when the current account surplus stood at $73 million. 

Most of this was driven by the decline in total imports, which fell 41pc year-on-year to $2.274 billion. 

However, total exports of goods also fell 40pc year-on-year to $1.129 billion in May 2020, while there was a 19pc fall in the inflow of workers’ remittances, which were recorded at $429 million. 

The current account deficit stood at $3.288 billion during the first eleven months of fiscal year 2020, a decline of 74pc when compared to the $12.453 billion deficit recorded in the corresponding period last year.

During the first eleven months of the fiscal year 2020, the total deficit in goods and services balance stood at $20.6 billion, a decline of 31pc from the deficit of $30 billion recorded in the corresponding period of last year.