Pakistan sees 14% fall in petroleum group imports in first half of FY23-24

According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), Pakistan’s imports of the petroleum group marked a decline of 13.78 percent during the first half (July-December) of the current fiscal year 2023-24.

The imports stood at $8.005 billion, compared to $9.285 billion during the same period of the last fiscal year.

The PBS data also showed that on a year-on-year basis, petroleum group imports decreased by 2.11 percent to $1.55 billion in December 2023, down from $1.585 billion in December 2022.

However, there was an 8.91 percent month-on-month growth compared to $1.424 million in November 2023.

Specifically, petroleum products imports saw a 24 percent decrease during July-December 2023-24, totaling $3.193 billion compared to $4.202 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal year.

In December 2023, petroleum products imports grew by 6.65 percent month-on-month, reaching $532.615 million, but declined by 18.04 percent year-on-year from $649.862 million in December 2022.

Overall, Pakistan’s imports for the July-December period of fiscal year 2023-24 amounted to $26.266 billion, a decrease of 15.84 percent from $31.209 billion in the corresponding period of the previous year.

December 2023 imports were $4.650 billion, up 2.45 percent from November 2023’s $4.539 billion but down 9.60 percent from $5.144 million in December 2022.

The main commodities imported in December 2023 included petroleum crude, petroleum products, natural gas (liquefied), electric machinery and apparatus, palm oil, plastic materials, mobile phones, iron and steel, iron and steel scrap, and motor cars (ckd/skd).