KARACHI: Pakistan’s trade deficit which soared 49.37 per cent to $8.81 billion from July to October would start plummeting, as per analysts, in upcoming weeks due to declining import bill of the country in wake of 28% cut in oil prices in international markets. Rupee appreciation would also play a key role in lowering of import bill. Brent crude traded as low as $81.63/barrel on Wednesday after a relentless slide from levels as high as $115/b in mid-June.
Country’s trade deficit swelled to of the current fiscal year as this deficit was $5.90 billion in the corresponding period of previous financial year.
As per the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) report, exports of goods to the rest of the world fell to $7.97 billion in first four months of fiscal year 2014-15, registering a 6.86pc decline over $8.55 billion in the same period of last year, while, import bill increased by 16.09pct to $16.78 billion as compared to four months’ $14.45 billion FY14.
Pakistan’s total goods trade deficit recorded at $2.30 billion in October 2014 compared with $2.38 billion of September 2014, official data showed.
The data dampened hopes that exports will soon make a greater contribution to Pakistan’s consumption-led economic recovery, but declining international commodities’ prices coupled with stable foreign exchange rates remained pointed to reasonable benefit to the economy in current fiscal.
With the textile is a main contributor, exporters remained failing to get due advantage of Generalized System of Preference (GSP) status to Pakistan awarded by European Union in January this year as exports’ data suggested gloomy picture where Pakistan managed to export merely $1.95 billion of goods in October 2014 that depicted 10.27 percent decline when compared to the exports’ worth of $2.18 billion in September 2014, however exports increased by 4.99 percent when compared to $1.86 billion of October 2013.
