Pakistan-Trade deficit shrinks 27percent in August
The trade deficit stood at $3.2 billion in August as imports fell and and exports rises
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Pakistan’s
trade deficit shrinks 27% in August 2022 compare to the same month last year. The
government has succeeded to curb the imports to bring down the trade deficit
and current account deficit. Imports
fell by 13% in August while exports gained 13%, narrowing the monthly trade
deficit slightly more than expected.
Federal
finance minister Miftah Ismail shares the data on twitter and said that “the
trade deficit stood at $3.2 billion in August.” He also said that as per the
Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), imports in August were $5.7 billion, which were
down by 13% from the same period last year.
The minister
said energy imports were up 5% to $2 billion while non-energy imports were down
21% to $3.6 billion. The exports were $2.5 billion, up by 13%, the trade
deficit was $3.2 billion, down by 27%, and remittances were up 2% to $2.7
billion, the finance minister shared.
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Pakistan needs at least 50percent increase in the exports to bridge the gap between imports and exports. Pakistan also needs to establish the industries based on local raw material instead of imported one. Pakistan needs a short and medium term policy to reduce the imports and to increase the exports.
The government is trying hard to curtail the imports to bring down the trade deficit. The government has set the target of current account balance at $9 billion in current financial year.
Analysts
said data indicates that the import compression measures taken by the
government have firmly taken hold and are now effectively curtailing imports as
per the policy regime of the government.
The
government had in May banned imports of all non-essential luxury goods to avert
a balance of payments crisis after the central bank reserves had fallen as low
as $7.8 billion.
Insight247.news
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