ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) and the Ministry of Commerce have repeatedly differed on the country’s trade figures as once again major difference was witnessed in exports, imports as well as balance of trade figures for July-October 2020 released by the two with a one day gap.
The PBS released trade figures on Wednesday show that exports have posted 3.07 percent growth in October 2020 and remained $2.081 billion as compared to $2.019 billion during the corresponding month in 2019.
Imports declined by 5.73 percent in dollar terms in October 2020 as compared to October 2019.
Imports stood at $3.820 billion in October 2020 as compared to $4.052 billion in October 2019.
The trade deficit, which was $2.033 billion in October 2019, reduced to $1.739 billion in October 2020, showing a 14.46 percent improvement in trade balance.
However, the Ministry of Commerce on Tuesday released trade data for the first four months of current financial year, and claimed that the country’ exports have shown an increase of 2.1 percent and stood at $2.066 billion as compared to $2.024 billion in October 2019.
On the import side, during the same period, there has been a contraction of 10.3 percent, and imports have decreased from $4.074 billion to $3.653 billion in October 2020.
The trade deficit shrank by 22.6 percent in October 2020 to $1.587 billion, showing an improvement of $463 million over October 2019.
According to the PBS during July-October 2020, the exports increased by 0.33 percent. The exports during this period stood at $7.554 billion as compared to $7.529 billion during the same period last year.
The exports during July-October 2020-21 stood at $15.131 billion as compared to $15.251 billion during the same period last year, registering a decline of 0.79 percent. During July-October 2020, the balance of trade witnessed a decline of 1.88 percent to $7.577 billion as compared to $7.722 billion during the same period of last year.
The Commerce Ministry claimed that during July-October 2020, the exports decreased only marginally by -0.1 percent.
The exports during this period stood at $7.540 billion as compared to $7.547 billion during the same period last year.
During July-October 2020, the balance of trade witnessed a decline of -4.5 percent to $7.424 billion as compared to $7.776 billion last year.
According to the PBS, during October 2020, the exports increased by 10.16 percent, when compared to September 2020. The exports in October 2020 stood at $2.081 billion compared to $1.889 billion in September 2020.
The exports during October 2020 stood at $3.820 billion as compared to $4.321 billion in September 2020, registering a decline of 11.59 percent.
During October 2020, the balance of trade witnessed a decline of 28.50 percent to $1.739 billion as compared to $2.432 billion during September 2020.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020