Oil import bill declines 22.23pc in first half

ISLAMABAD: The country’s oil import bill witnessed a 22.23 percent reduction during the first half of the current fiscal year, compared with the corresponding period of the last year, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported.

The overall oil imports during July-December (2020/21) were recorded at $4,771.471 million against the imports of $6,142.197 million during July-December (2019/20), showing a decline of 22.32 percent, the data showed.

The commodities that contributed to the decline of the oil import bill included petroleum products, the imports of which decreased 16.30 percent to $2,168.674 million during the current fiscal year, compared with $2,591.065 million last year.

Likewise, the imports of petroleum cured decreased to $1,322.952 million from $1,771.251 million, a decline of 25.31 percent, while the imports of natural gas (liquified) went down 35.33 percent to $1,052.124 million from $1,626.814 million.

The imports of petroleum gas (liquified) increased to $227.643 million from $153 million, showing a growth of 48.79 percent, while the imports of all other oil products increased 16.42 percent to 0.078 million from $0.067 million, it revealed.

Meanwhile, on a year-on-year basis, the oil import bill shrunk 20.04 percent to $824.872 million in December 2020, compared with the imports of $1,031.564 million in December 2019, the PBS data reported.

However, imports during December 2020 increased 6.03 percent, compared with the imports of $777.977 million in November 2020.

The country’s merchandise exports increased 4.98 percent during the first half of the current fiscal year (2020/21), compared with the corresponding period of the last year.

The PBS data also showed that the exports from the country during July-December (2020/21) were recorded at $12.098 billion against $11.524 billion during July-December (2019/20).

The imports during the period under review also increased 5.72 percent, as it grew to $24.521 billion during the first half of the current fiscal year from $23.195 billion last year.