Pharmaceutical exports up by 9pc to $197.589mn

ISLAMABAD: The exports of pharmaceutical products from the country increased by 9.81 percent during first eleven months of fiscal year (2018-19) compared to the corresponding period of last year.

Pakistan exported pharmaceutical products worth $197.598 million during July-May (2018-19) against the export of $179.952 million during July-May (2017-18), showing growth of 9.81 percent, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

In terms of quantity, the export of the pharmaceutical products witnessed an increase of 25.50 percent from 11,963 metric tons to 9, 532 metric tons, according to the data.

Meanwhile, on year-on-year basis, the pharmaceutical exports witnessed increase of 20.47 percent during the month of May 2019 when compared to the same month of last year. The pharmaceutical exports in May 2019 were recorded at $17.832 million against the exports of $14.802 million in May 2018, the PBS data revealed.

On month-on-month basis, the exports of pharmaceutical products however, witnessed a decreased of 11.43 percent in May 2019 when compared to the exports of $20.133 million in April 2019.

It is pertinent to mention here that the country's overall merchandize trade deficit plunged by 13.62 per cent during the first eleven months of fiscal year 2018-19 compared to the corresponding period of last year, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported.

The trade deficit contracted by 13.62 per cent to $29.207 billion during the period against the deficit of $33.812 billion recorded during last year.

The exports during the period under review witnessed nominal decrease of 0.3% by falling from $21.330 billion during last year to $21.267 billion.

On the other hand, the imports declined by 8.47 per cent to $50.474 billion during the period under review from $55.142 billion last year, the data revealed.

On year-on-year basis, the exports declined by 1.72 per cent, from $2.139 billion in May 2018 to $2.102 billion in May 2019 while the imports declined by 12.8 per cent from $5.782 billion in May 2018 to $5.042 billion in May 2019, the data revealed.