Pakistan’s trade deficit widened 19.49 per cent to $2.391 billion in September compared to $2.001bn during the same month last year, according to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
The consistent decrease in imports during the last fiscal year (FY20) and in the first two months (July-Aug) of current fiscal year (FY21) helped government manage external account despite a downward trend in exports.
However, the PBS data showed that imports during September witnessed a double-digit increase. As a result, the trade deficit between July-September widened to $5.804bn, up 2.02pc from $5.689bn.
During FY20, the trade deficit narrowed to $23.099bn from $31.820bn.
An official source at the Ministry of Commerce told Dawn that the government’s decision to allow sugar and wheat import to help meet local demand will increase the import bill and widen the trade deficit.
Meanwhile, imports posted a positive growth of 13.22pc in September to $4.264bn, as against $3.766bn over the corresponding month of last year.
During 1QFY20, overall import bill marginally increased by 0.56pc to $11.262bn against $11.199bn over the corresponding months of last year.
Contrary to this, export proceeds posted a growth of 6.12pc to $1.873bn in September as against $1.765bn over the corresponding month last year.
