ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s import bill has declined by 19.14 percent to $4.5 billion in January 2019 as compared with $5.57 billion in the same month of the last year, according to official statistics released on Monday.
The significant decline in imports helped the trade deficit to shrink by 31.73 percent to $2.46 billion in January 2019 as compared with $3.6 billion in the same month of the last year.
However, the exports grew by only 4 percent to $2.04 billion during the month under review as compared with $1.96 billion in month of January 2018.
Analysts said that higher regulatory duty and check on unnecessary items had resulted in curtailing influx of imported goods.
The import bill has also come down by 5.17 percent to $32.5 billion during July – January 2018/2019 as compared with $34.265 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.
The trade deficit narrowed by 9.66 percent to the deficit of $19.264 billion during first seven months of the current fiscal year as compared with $21.324 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.
The exports exhibited 2.24 percent growth to $13.23 billion during July – January 2018/2019 as compared with $12.94 billion in the same period of the last fiscal year.
