July exports, imports fall amid economic slowdown

ISLAMABAD: In the first month of the current fiscal, the country’s exports shrank near a quarter over the previous month and a 5.2 percent over the corresponding month of the last fiscal year, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported on Tuesday.

Similarly, the imports also plunged by 38.3 percent over the previous month and 12.8 percent over the same month a year ago.

The monthly trade bulletin showed that goods exports in July 2022 stood at $2.219 billion against $2.92 billion in June 2022 and $2.43 billion in July 2021.

The country’s goods imports in July 2022 were $4.86 billion. In June 2022, the economy’s imports were $7.88 billion and in July 2021, the monetary volume of imports was $5.575 billion.

The trade deficit reduced by 18.3 percent to $2.64 billion in July 2022 against $3.235 billion in July 2021. In June 2022, the gap was at $4.96 billion.

A sizable cut in imports came after the government banned a number of luxury items to manage shortage of dollars in the economy.

The economy racked up a record-high trade deficit of $48.385 billion in the last fiscal year due to the sky-high oil imports bill. Imports during FY22 clocked in at $80.18 billion and exports $31.07 billion. During FY2020, the exports hit $25.3 billion, while imports came in at $56.38 billion, a deficit of $31.07 billion.

Services Trade Similarly, the PBS also reported the services trade performance data for July-June 2021-22. According to trade statistics for international services during July-June 2021/22, local companies imported more services than they exported. The trade deficit in services ballooned 105.7 percent to $5.175 billion in FY22 from $2.516 billion in FY21.

The economy hired foreign companies’ services for $12.14 billion, while it sold services abroad $6.97 billion. In the previous FY21, the country’s services exports (money inflow) stood at $5.945 billion and imports (outflow) were recorded at $8.46 billion. This represents an increase of 17.2 percent in services exports and 43.5 percent in imports.

In June 2022, services exports stood at $646 million and imports at $1.37 billion indicating a deficit of $727 million. In the previous month of May 2022, exports were recorded at $498 million and imports at $995 million with a deficit of $497 million.

During the month under review, exports went up by 29.7 percent and imports by 37.9 percent when compared to the previous month.

Comparing June 2022’s services trade performance with the same month of the last year, exports jumped 11.75 percent and imports also surged 57.6 percent.

In June 2021, services exports stood at $578 million and imports at $871 million, with a deficit of $293 million. Comparing the deficit of both months, it increased by 148 percent in June 2022 over the corresponding month of last year.