ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s trade deficit narrowed down by 21.42 percent to $9.209 billion during the first quarter of the current fiscal year as compared to $11.719 billion during the same period of last year, says Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

The exports during July-September (2022-23) were recorded at $7.125 billion against the exports of $6.996 billion in July-September (2021-22), showing a growth of 1.84 percent, according to the trade data released by PBS Tuesday.

The imports decreased by 12.72 per cent during the period under review by going down from $18.715 billion last year to $16.334 during the current year.

On a year-on-year basis, the exports witnessed a slight decline of 0.91 per cent and were recorded at $2.387 billion in September 2022 against the exports of $2.409 billion in September 2021.

Aug trade deficit soars 28.89pc to $3.53bn MoM

The imports also decreased to $5.269 billion in September 2022 from $6.563 billion in September 2021, showing negative growth of 19.72 per cent. The trade deficit narrowed by 30.62 per cent on a YoY basis to $2.882 billion in September 2022 compared to $4.154 billion in September 2021.

On a month-on-month basis, the exports during September 2022 declined by 3.83 per cent when compared to the exports of $2.482 billion in August 2022.

The imports into the country also declined by 13.21 per cent in September 2022 when compared to the imports of $6.071 billion in August 2022, according to the data.

The services exports went up by 8.25 per cent during the first two months (July-August) of the current fiscal year as compared to the same period of last year. The service trade during the period under review was recorded at $1.130 billion against the exports of $1.043 billion last year.

The import of services witnessed a 1.15 per cent increase by going up from $1.719 billion last year to $1.738 billion during the current year, according to PBS break up of figures.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022