Current Account shortfall narrows 72pc in July

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's Current Account shortfall narrows to $579 million in first month (July) of the year 2019-20 as compared to $2.13 billion in July last year, showing a decline of 72.81%, State Bank of Pakistan reported on Tuesday.

The details show that Current Account Balance without official transfers shrank to $664 million in the corresponding month against $2.27 billion in same month of last year.

Balance of trade in goods also plunged from $3.485 billion in July 2018 to $1.847 billion in July this year, whereas balance of trade in services also fell to $473 million compared to $517 million.

Workers' remittances have been posting a positive trend for last year and in July 2019 too, it witnessed an encouraging result as it increased to $2.04 billion compared to $1.982 billion in same month of last year.

As a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP), the current account deficit narrowed to 2.5% in the first month of 2019-20 as opposed to 8.3% in the same period of last year.

Pakistan exported goods and services worth of $2.66 billion in July compared to exports valuing $2.443 billion in the comparable period of last year, reflecting a year-on-year increase of 8.84%.

The value of imported goods in July was recorded at $4.15 billion, down 14.07% from $4.89 billion over corresponding month of last year.