Exports grow 25pc to $23.22bn in 9MFY22

KARACHI: Pakistan’s exports grew 25 percent to $23.22 billion in the first nine months of the current financial year compared to $18.688 billion in the same months of last year.

Advisor to Prime Minister on Commerce Razzak Dawood on Friday announced that the growth in the exports of the country in the first eight months was $4.644 billion in absolute terms.

During March 2022, Pakistan’s exports grew by 17.3 percent to $2.773 billion as compared to $2.365 billion in March 2021.

Razzak commenting on the performance of the export sector of the country said, “Our exports are in line with our targets. We expect to achieve our yearly target.”

He commended the country’s exporters for maintaining the momentum under these testing times prevailing in the global market.

Tahir Abbas, head of research at Arib Habib Limited said that export growth in March was impressive, and would provide much-needed relief to the country on the external front.

Pakistan has been struggling to cope with the external sector payment, as high imports as well as external debt payments have put pressure on the foreign exchange reserves, whichdwindled massively by $2.9 billion on week-on-week basis as per the latest data issued by the State Bank of Pakistan. Razzak said that the import figures would be shared when finalised by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

Tahir said that import number would be key to analyse the situation on external trade sector.

The huge gap between imports and exports has widened the trade deficit, resultantly increasing the current account deficit.

Trade deficit widened by 82.2 percent during the first eight months (July-February) of the current fiscal year 2021-22 and reached $31.959 billion compared to $17.535 billion during the same period of 2020-21.

The country’s trade deficit widened by 22.1 percent on year-on-year basis, jumping from $2.533 billion in February 2021 to $3.095 billion in February 2022.

The trade deficit reached an all-time high of $37.7 billion in FY18. However, the government’s measures led to a drop in it to $31.8 billion in FY19 and $23.183 billion in FY20.

Tahir said that in February, Pakistan’s current account deficit narrowed due to record high exports and sharp decline in imports, which pushed the numbers to their lowest this fiscal year. Now, the import numbers for March would help to gauge the actual situation.