Petroleum group: Jul-Feb imports show 10.93pc negative growth YoY

ISLAMABAD: Petroleum group imports witnessed a negative growth of 10.93 per cent during the first eight months (July-February) of the current fiscal year and stood at $10.578 billion when compared to $11.876 billion during the same period of last fiscal year, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) said.

The data of exports and imports released by PBS revealed that petroleum group imports increased by 1.50 per cent on a year-on-year (YoY) basis and stood at $1.245 billion in February 2024 when compared to $1.264 billion during February 2023.

On a month-on-month basis, it registered 6.07 per cent negative growth when compared to $1.326 billion in January 2024.

Petroleum products imports witnessed 23.16 per cent negative growth during July-February 2023-24 and remained at $4.112 billion compared to $5.352 billion during the same period of last fiscal year.

On a MoM basis, it registered 14.89 per cent growth and stood at $491.234 million in February 2024 when compared to $427.573 million in February 2023.

On a YoY basis, petroleum products registered 6.17 per cent growth when compared to $462.706 million in February 2023.

The overall imports during July-February, 2023-24 totalled $35.249 billion (provisional) as against $39.969 billion during the corresponding period of last year showing a decrease of 11.81 per cent. The imports in February 2024 were $4.326 billion (provisional) as compared to $4.771 billion in January 2024 showing a decrease of 9.33 per cent over January 2024 but increased by 9.94 per cent as compared to $3.935 billion in February 2023.

The main commodities of imports during February 2024 were petroleum products (Rs137,143 million), petroleum crude (Rs104,278 million), natural gas, liquefied (Rs88,732 million), electric machinery and apparatus (Rs74,996 million), wheat unmilled (Rs63,218 million), palm oil (Rs55,579 million), plastic materials (Rs51,018 million), mobile phones (Rs44,920 million), iron and steel (Rs38,410 million), and iron and steel scrap (Rs31,906 million).

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024