Pakistan’s trade deficit narrowed by over 12% to $24.09 billion in fiscal year 2023-24 (FY24) due to a significant rise in exports and a slight decrease in imports, as reported by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Tuesday.
The trade balance, which measures the gap between exports and imports, showed a deficit of $24.09 billion from July to June 2023-24, compared to $27.47 billion in the same period the previous year.
A notable increase in exports and a minor drop in imports contributed to this reduction in the trade deficit. In FY24, Pakistan’s exports rose by 10.54% to $30.65 billion, up from $27.72 billion in the corresponding period the previous year.
Conversely, imports fell by 0.84% to $54.73 billion in FY24, down from $55.19 billion in FY23. Moreover, for the first ten months of FY24, Pakistan’s trade deficit decreased by 18% year-on-year to $19.5 billion.
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Monthly data showed that in June 2024, the trade deficit surged by 30.39% year-on-year to $2.39 billion from $1.83 billion in June 2023. Both exports and imports increased, but the rise in imports was more pronounced.
Exports in June 2024 increased by 7.3% to $2.53 billion from $2.36 billion in June 2023, while imports rose significantly by 17.43% to $4.92 billion from $4.2 billion in the same month last year.
On a month-to-month basis, the trade deficit increased by 15.13% to $2.39 billion in June 2024 from $2.07 billion in May 2024.
The data indicated a significant monthly decrease in exports, which fell by 10.92% to $2.53 billion from $2.84 billion in May. Meanwhile, imports remained largely stable, inching up by 0.08% to $4.92 billion from $4.91 billion the previous month
