Pakistan’s trade deficit witnesses upto 26 percent decline, shows PBS  

KARACHI: Pakistan’s trade deficit witnessed a decline of around 26 percent during first 10 months of the ongoing fiscal year 2019-20 as compared to the previous year, ARY NEWS reported citing data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

The volume of the trade deficit remained at United States Dollar (USD) 19.5 billion during the first 10 months of the ongoing year as compared to $26.2 in the previous year of 2018-19.

The imports witnessed a 16.5 percent decline during the first 10 months of the ongoing year, standing at US$37.9 billion this year as compared to $45.3 billion in 2018-19.

The exports also witnessed a slight decrease of around four percent in the first 10 months-mainly due to coronavirus lockdown, standing at $18.4 billion as compared to $19.1 billion in the previous year.

The trade deficit witnessed a decline of 19 percent in the month of April, standing at $2.131 billion in the ongoing year as compared to the same month of the previous year.

The exports also witnessed a 54 percent decline in the month of April in the ongoing year with $957 million exports this year as compared to $2.089 billion exports in April of the previous year.

The imports also stood at $3.08 this year as compared to $4.7 billion the previous year, showing 34 percent decline.

It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan’s exports witnessed an over 15 percent decline in the month of March, plunging to United States Dollar (USD) 1.8 billion as compared to $2.14 in February 2020 amid coronavirus outbreak.

The imports also witnessed a 21 percent decline during March 2020, and fell from $4.18 billion in February to $3.29 billion in the previous month.