POL import bill contracts 22.78pc to $3.946 billion in 5 months

ISLAMABAD: The imports of overall petroleum group declined by 22.78 percent during the first five months of the current fiscal year (FY2020-21) as compared to the corresponding period of the last year.

During the period under review, the total imports of the petroleum group stood at $3.946 billion, as against the imports of $5.110 billion last year, according to the latest data issued by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

The commodities that contributed in decrease of petroleum imports included petroleum products, imports of which declined by 16.51 percent, from $2.174 billion to $1.815 billion.

The imports of petroleum cured decreased by 27.01 percent, from $1.486 billion last year to $1.085 billion whereas the imports of liquefied natural gas decreased by 34.73 percent from $1.334 billion to $0.870 billion.

The petroleum products that witnessed increase in trade included liquefied petroleum gas, imports of which grew by 52.06 percent, from $114.905 million to $174.726 million.

The imports of all other petroleum group commodities also increased by 8.93 percent, the data revealed.

Meanwhile, on year-on-year basis, the petroleum group imports decreased by 16.38 percent during the month of November as compared to the same month of last year. The petroleum imports during November 2020 were recorded at $777.981 million against the imports of $930.396 million.

On month-on-month basis, the petroleum imports into the country decreased by 7.44 percent during November 2020 when compared to the imports of $840.484 million in October 2020, the data revealed.

It is pertinent to mention here that the country’s merchandize exports increased by 2.21 percent during the first five months of the current fiscal year as compared to the corresponding period of last year.

The exports during July-November (2020-21) were recorded at $9.747 billion against the exports of $9.536 billion in July-November (2019-20), showing growth of 2.21 percent according to PBS data.

The imports during the period under review also increased 1.63 percent by going up from $19.175 billion last year to $19.487 billion during the current fiscal year.

Based on the figures, there has been slight increase of 1.05 percent in the trade deficit during the period under review as it was recorded at $9.740 billion as compared to the deficit of $9.639 billion during last year.