ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s trade deficit has sharply widened by around $30 billion or 42.12 percent during first eleven months of current fiscal year as compared with deficit of $21.1 billion in the corresponding months of the last fiscal year.
The widening of trade deficit was due to significant increase in imports by 20.6 percent to $48.53 billion during July – May 2016/2017 as compared with $40.25 billion in the same period of the last fiscal year.
On the other hand exports came down by 3.13 percent to $18.54 billion during the period under review as against $19.14 billion in the same period of the last year.
Analysts said that the high imports were due to CPEC related imports including capital goods and power generating machinery. The exports during May 2017 fell by 11 percent to $1.627 billion as compared with $1.827 billion in the same month of the last year. The imports, however, increased by 27.88 percent in May 2017 to $5.01 billion as against $3.98 billion. The trade deficit in May 2017 widened by 60.79 percent.
