ISLAMABAD: The country’s merchandize trade deficit plunged by 13.02 percent during July-March (2018-19) as the deficit contracted by over $3.544 billion to $23.672 billion in the period under review against the deficit of $27.216 billion recorded during same period of the previous year.
The exports during the period under review witnessed an increase of 0.11% to $17.08 billion from $17.064 billion during July-March (2017-18). On the other hand, the imports declined by 7.96% to $40.755 billion from $44.281 billion recorded during first nine months of current fiscal year, according to data released by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) here.
On year-on-year basis, the imports into the country witnessed negative growth of 20.88% during March 2019 when compared to the imports of same month of last year.
The imports during March 2019 were recorded at $4.155 billion against the imports of $5.25 billion in March 2018.
The exports during the month under review also witnessed a decline of 11.13% to $1.98 billion in March 2019 from $2.227 billion in March 2018.
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Based on the figures, the trade deficit during the month shrunk by 28.07 % by going down from the deficit of $3.025 billion in March 2018 to $2.176 billion in March 2019, the PBS data revealed.
On month-on-month basis, the imports into the country decreased by 0.6% in March 2019 when compared to the imports of $4.18 billion in February 2019. While the exports increased by 4.76% in March 2019 when compared to the exports of $1.89 billion in February 2019, the data revealed.
APP
