Pakistan’s trade deficit reaches US$ 5.8 billion mark for the first quarter of FY-2020-21 between July-September.
The trade deficit of US$ 5.8 billion is a marginal increase to that of last year during the same time period which stood at US$ 5.7 billion.
The subtle increment in the trade deficit is due to the surge in imports and reduction in exports along with a 39 per cent currency devaluation.
The 2 per cent increase in trade deficit for this year amounts to US$ 115 million as country’s imports witnessed an increase of US$ 63 million reaching US$ 11.3 billion mark.
However, Pakistan’s exports stood at less than US$ 5.5 billion, reflecting 1 per cent negative growth for the first three months of FY 2020-21.
Pakistan’s exports have consistently remained around US$ 2 billion per month, however a 39 per cent currency devaluation has resulted in severe repercussions for the economy.
The current government had set an export target of US$ 27.7 billion on 6.2 per cent growth in the first two years, however exports in the first quarter have only amounted to 19.7 per cent of the gross annual target.
Imports were expected to witness a reduction of 4.8 per cent amounting to US$ 42.2 billion, whereas they stood at 26.7 per cent of the annual target.
September 2020 saw imports in dollars increase to US$ 4.3 billion after an increase of US$ 498 million as compared to the last year for the same month.
As per the data provided by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), country’s trade deficit has witnessed an increase of US$ 940 million or 37.4 per cent in September as compared to August 2020.
