Prime Minister Imran Khan has said the government’s timely actions to contain current account deficit are bearing fruit.
Taking to Twitter from his personal handle Saturday, the Prime Minister said the deficit shrank to only 0.5 billion dollars in February which is two billion dollars lower than January and the lowest monthly deficit so far this fiscal year.
Imran Khan said our exports are close to all time high and imports are
down twenty-one percent. He said a strong growth is being witnessed in
large scale manufacturing.
“Timely actions to contain current account deficit bear fruit and the
deficit shrank to only US$0.5bn in February,” the Prime Minister
tweeted.
He said that this was US$2bn lower than in January and lowest monthly
deficit so far this fiscal year.
The prime minister further shared that exports have gone up to all-time
high and imports witnessed a decline by 21 percent from their peak
besides a strong growth in large scale manufacturing.
It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan’s trade deficit has
widened by 82.2 per cent during the first eight months (July-February)
of the current fiscal year 2021-22.
The data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) said the
trade deficit has reached a whopping $31.959 billion compared to $17.535
billion during the same period of 2020-21.
According to the PBS monthly summary on foreign trade statistics for
February 2022, the country’s exports increased by 25.8 per cent and
remained $20.547 billion in the first eight months of the current fiscal
year 2021-22.
Imports during the first eight months (July-February) of the current
fiscal year and stood at $52.506 billion, while exports during the same
period remained $20.574, showing an increase of 25.08 per cent, the PBS
stated.
According to the PBS, the country’s trade deficit widened by 22.1 per
cent on year-on-year basis, jumping from $2.533 billion in February 2021
to $3.095 billion in February 2022, showing an increase of 9.69pc.
Imports declined by 2.2 per cent on a month-on-month basis and remained
$5.903 billion in February 2022 compared to $6.041 billion in January
2022. DNA
