Pakistan’s exports witness strong recovery’ despite COVID resurgence: SBP

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has said that Pakistan’s exports have staged a strong recovery notwithstanding a continued rise in global COVID cases.

In a tweet post on Friday, the central bank shared data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, showing a sharp recovery of Pakistan’s exports during the year, marred by the coronavirus pandemic.

The statement comer as the country’s exports crossed $2-billion mark for the second consecutive month in November, registering a 7.2pc growth over the same month of last year.

Taking to social media, Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood revealed on Tuesday felicitated the exporters for “working hard despite the resurgence of Covid-19 in Pakistan”.

As per the figures shared by the commerce adviser, exports in November 2020 rose 7.2pc to $2.156 billion when compared with $2.011 billion in November 2019.

“We have just received provisional figures for export of goods. I wish to congratulate our exporters that in these very difficult times with resurgence of Covid-19 cases in Pakistan & globally, our exports have increased by 7.2pc in November 2020 over the same period last year,” he said in a tweet.

Meanwhile as per the provisional data shared by the commerce ministry shows that exports during the first five months (July-November) of FY21 were recorded at $9.732 billion as against $9.545 billion in July-Nov FY20.

Meanwhile, imports surged by 7.77pc in the same period to $ 4,229mn. As a result, trade deficit inflated to US$ 2,068mn up by 7.87pc.