POL import bill surges 99pc to $19.6bn in 11 months

The imports of overall petroleum group witnessed an increase of 99.14 percent 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 $19.679 billion, as against the imports of $9.882 billion 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 126.17 percent, from $4.431 billion last year to $10.022 billion during the period under review.

The imports of petroleum crud also increased by 74.70 percent, from $2.724 billion last year to $5.7591billion during July-May (2021-22) whereas the imports of liquefied natural gas surged by 86.29 percent from $2.302 billion to $4.289 billion.

Similarly, the import of liquefied petroleum gas grew by 43.50 percent, from $422.917 million to $606.892 million.

However, the imports of all other petroleum group commodities decreased by 19.04 percent, from $0.305 million to $0.247 million, the data revealed.

Meanwhile, on year-on-year basis, the petroleum group imports witnessed an increase 123.40 percent during the month of May 2022 as compared to the same month of last year.

The petroleum imports during May 2022 were recorded at $2.645 billion against the imports of $1.184 billion during May 2021.

On month-on-month basis, the petroleum imports into the country also increased by 19 percent during May 2022 when compared to the imports of $2.223 billion 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 44.28 percent by growing from $50.028 billion during July-May (2020-21) to $72.182 billion in July-May (2021-22).

The exports also witnessed an increase of 27.78 percent and were recorded at $28.848 billion during the period against the exports of $22.576 billion recorded last year.
Based on the data, the overall trade deficit during the period under review was recorded at $43.334 billion, showing an increase of 57.85 percent over the deficit of $27.452 billion recorded during last year, the PBS data revealed.