ISLAMABAD: The trade gap widened to a massive 70.14 percent to $35.393 billion in July-March, the government data showed, mainly due to rising energy import cost.
During the first nine months of current 2021/22 fiscal year, imports surged to $58.691 while exports remained at $23.298 billion, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported.
In last fiscal year, imports were at $39.489 billion and exports at $18.687 billion. This depicts 24.67 percent growth in exports and 48.63 percent increase in imports.
Reports stated said “there’s a big likelihood the trade deficit will expand further.” “The two biggest items contributing to the rise in imports cost were oil, liquefied natural gas,” an reports said.
“The recent increase in crude oil prices beyond $110/barrel and simultaneous revival of domestic demand pose headwinds to trade balance as import bill will likely remain elevated.
The exports increased by 15.91 percent during March 2022 as compared to the exports of same month of last year.
The exports during March 2022 were recorded at $2.740 billion against the exports of $2.364 billion in March 2021.
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The imports increased to $6.186 billion in March 2022 from $5.631 billion in March 2021, showing growth of 9.86 percent.
Former commerce advisor Razzak Dawood earlier said the country’s exports “are in line with the targets and will meet the yearly target”. The country’s exporters are maintaining exports momentum under these testing times prevailing in the global market, he said.
On month-on-month basis, the exports from the country witnessed negative growth of 2.84 percent during March 2022 as compared to the exports of $2.820 billion recorded during February 2022.
