Pakistan's C/A post surplus for third successive month on back of remittance & exports

Pakistan’s current account posted a surplus for a third successive month in September, revealed the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Wednesday.

As per the data released by the central bank, the surplus reached $73 million against a deficit of $278 million a year earlier. As a result, the current account recorded a surplus of $792 million in Q1-FY21, the first quarterly surplus in more than 5 years.

On the development, Prime Minister Imran Khan said that Pakistan is heading in the right direction.

In a tweet on Wednesday, he said "the current account was in surplus of $73mn during September bringing surplus for the first quarter to $792mn compared to a deficit of $1,492mn during the same time last year."

The Prime Minister said exports grew 29pc and remittances 9pc during the previous month.

Meanwhile, the SBP was of the view that continued buoyancy in remittances (up 9 percent m/m) and a broad-based rebound in exports (up 29pc m/m) drove the current account surplus in September. “Imports also picked up in line with the on-going revival in domestic economic activity,” it added.

Meanwhile, the Balance on Trade in Goods during the first quarter remained at negative $5.252 billion as compared to negative $5.048bn recorded in the same period last year. The deficit in services fell by 50pc to $530mn in the first quarter and the revenue deficit increased by 7pc to $1.52bn.

According to the SBP, worker remittances from July to September rose 31 percent to $7.14bn, up $1.69bn from the previous fiscal year.

Furthermore, the Current Account percentage of GDP stood at 1.2pc in the first quarter as compared to negative 2.3pc in the same period last year.