ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s trade deficit widened by 6.44 per cent in the first half (July–December) of the current fiscal year (2020-21) owing to an uptick in imports during the last two months.
According to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Thursday, the country’s trade deficit was recorded at $12.42 billion during July–December FY21 as compared to the deficit of $11.67 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.
Exports of the country grew five per cent to $12.1 billion in 1HFY21 as compared to $11.52 billion in the corresponding half of the last fiscal year. Similarly, total import bill also increased 5.72pc to $24.52 billion during the period under review as compared with $23.2 billion in the corresponding half of last year.
On a year-on-year basis, the trade deficit widened sharply by 32pc to $2.68 billion in December 2020 as compared with the deficit of $2.03 billion in the same month of 2019.
Exports during the month under review increased 18.31pc to $2.35 billion compared with $1.988 billion in December 2019. On the other hand, imports clocked in at $5.035 billion in December 2020 as compared to $4.020 billion in December 2019, registering a significant increase of 25.25pc.
Meanwhile, on a month-on-month basis, Pakistan’s trade deficit widened by 25.55pc in December 2020 compared to $2.137 billion in November 2020.
Exports rose 8.19pc MoM in December 2020 compared to $2.174 billion in November 2020, whereas imports increased 16.79pc in December 2020 compared to $4.311 billion in November 2020.
