Pakistan’s Trade Deficit Soars 56% to $2.2 Billion in March

Pakistan’s trade deficit narrowed down by 24.94 percent in the first nine months (July-March) of the current fiscal year 2023-24 as it stood at $17.030 billion compared to $22.688 billion during the same period of last fiscal year, says the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

The monthly data released by the Bureau noted that the country’s exports increased by 8 percent to $22.914 billion during July-March 2023-24 compared to $21.036 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.

Imports declined by 8.65 percent to $39.944 billion during the first nine months of the current fiscal year as compared with $43.724 billion in the same period of the last fiscal year.

March numbers

On a month-on-month basis, the trade deficit widened by 24.56 percent to $2.171 billion in March 2024, as compared to $1.743 billion in February 2024. Exports recorded a 1.08 percent decline to $2.555 billion in March 2024 when compared with $2.583 billion in February 2024. Import increased by 9.25 percent to $4.726 billion in March 2024 when compared with $4.326 billion in January 2024.

The trade deficit widened by 56.30 percent on a year-on-year basis and stood at $2.171 billion in March 2024 compared to $1.389 billion during the same month of 2023.

The imports increased by 25.86 percent on a YoY basis and remained $4.726 billion in March 2024 compared to $3.755 billion in March 2023. The exports increased by 7.99 percent on a YoY basis and remained $2.555 billion in March 2024 compared to $2.366 billion in March 2023.