Medicinal products import increases 2.65pc in 5 months

ISLAMABAD: The import of medicinal products witnessed an increase of 2.65 percent during the first five months of the current financial year (2020-21) as compared to the corresponding period of last year.

Pakistan imported medicinal products worth US $ 439.093 million during July-November 2020 as compared to the imports of US $ 427.746 million in the respective period last year, data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) stated.

In terms of quantity, however, medicinal imports witnessed a decrease of 9.18 percent, as the country imported 8,582 metric tonnes of medicinal products during the period under review as compared to the imports of 9,449 metric tonnes last year.

Meanwhile, on a year-on-year basis, medicinal imports into the country during November 2020 decreased by 1.76 percent, from US $ 80.017 million in November 2019 to US $ 78.606 million.

Similarly, on a monthly basis, medicinal imports during November 2020 also declined by 3.26 percent as compared to the imports of US $ 81.256 million in October 2020.