ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s oil import bill rose 1.35% to $9.46 billion in the first seven months of the current fiscal year, compared to $9.33 billion in the same period last year, according to data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) released on Monday.
The overall import bill surged 7.08% year-on-year to $33.08 billion from July to January, driven by an increase in the arrival of raw materials, textiles, agriculture products, machinery, and automobiles. Notably, the largest increase came from crude oil imports, which rose 4.98%, with the total quantity of petroleum crude rising 18.20% to 5.78 million tonnes.
However, the value of petroleum product imports saw a decline of 3.69%, despite a 10.72% increase in the quantity imported, reaching 6.15 million tonnes. Liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports fell 4.17%, while imports of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) surged 47.54%.
Machinery imports grew 16.17% to $5.06 billion, driven by increased imports of textile, electrical, and construction machinery. Imports of mobile phones, however, fell 12.04% due to higher tax rates, contributing to a 4.18% decline in the telecommunication group.
Meanwhile, the transport sector saw strong growth of 20.96%, primarily due to increased imports of CKD/SKD and CBU vehicles.
Imports in the agriculture sector showed mixed results, with a 7.08% drop in fertilizer imports and a 26.69% decrease in insecticides. However, imports of plastic materials and medicinal products grew 7.61% and 15.23%, respectively, while imports of iron and steel scrap contributed to a 7.44% rise in metal imports.
