ISLAMABAD: The country’s exports of jewellery and gems witnessed increase of 62.33 per cent and 7.75 per cent respectively during the first two months of the current fiscal year as compared to the corresponding period of last year.
The overall jewellery exports during July-August (2016-17) were recorded at $1.711 million against $1.054 million in July-August (2015-16), showing surge of 62.33 per cent, according to the data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). On the other hand, the exports of gems increased from $0.626 million last fiscal year to $0.459 million during the current year. Meanwhile on year-on-year basis, the jewellery exports from the country increased by 78.20 per cent in August 2016 when compared to the trade of August 2015.
The exports of jewellery in August 2016 were recorded at $1.071 million against $0.601 million in August 2015. On the other hand, the gems exports increased from $0.178 million in August 2015 to $0.249 million in August 2016, showing an increase of 39.89 per cent.
On month-on-month basis, the exports of jewellery and gems increased by 67.34 per cent and 18.57 per cent respectively when compared to the exports of July 2016.
The jewellery exports in July 2015 were recorded at $0.640 million whereas the exports of gems during the month were recorded at $0.210 million. It is pertinent to mention here that the overall exports from the country during the first two months of the current fiscal year witnessed decline of 8.19 per cent.
The exports during July-August (2015-16) were recorded at $3.138 billion compared to the exports of $3.418 billion during the same period of last fiscal year.
The imports into the country, however increased by 10.32 per cent by going up from $7.150 million last year to $7.888 million during the period under review. Based on the figures, the trade deficit was recorded at $4.750 billion, showing an increase of 27.28 per cent when compared to the deficit of $3.732 billion during the first two months of last year.
