ISLAMABAD: The country’s merchandize trade deficit plunged by 12.82 percentduring the first ten months of the current fiscal year compared to thecorresponding period of last year.
The trade deficit contracted by $3.867 billion to $26.302 billion duringJuly-April (2018-19) against the deficit of $30.169 billion recorded duringJuly-April (2017-18), according to latest data of Pakistan Bureau ofStatistics (PBS).
The exports during the period under review witnessed nominal decrease of0.12% by falling from $19.191 billion during last year to $19.169 billionduring the ongoing fiscal year.
On the other hand, the imports declined by 7.88% to $45.471 billion duringthe period under review from $49.360 billion last year, the data revealed.
On year-on-year basis, the imports into the country witnessed negativegrowth of 6.42% during April 2019 when compared to the imports of samemonth of last year. The imports during April 2019 were recorded at $4.753billion against the imports of $5.079 billion in April 2018.
The exports during the month under review also witnessed a decline of 1.54%to $2.094 billion in April 2019 from $2.127 billion in April 2018.
Based on the figures, the trade deficit during the month shrunk by 9.93% bygoing down from the deficit of $2.952 billion in April 2018 to $2.659billion in April 2019, the PBS data revealed.
On month-on-month basis, the imports into the country increased by 14.39%in April 2019 when compared to the imports of $4.155 billion in March 2019.
On the other hand, the exports increased by 5.81% in April 2019 whencompared to the exports of $1.979 billion in March 2019, the data revealed.