KARACHI: The country’s current account deficit shrunk by 18.5 percent to $1.606 billion in the first nine months (July-March) of the ongoing fiscal year.
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) data showed that the current account deficit amounted to $1.971 billion in the July-March period of 2014-15.
The remittances registered only four percent growth to $14.15 billion during the first nine months of 2015-16 as compared to $13.59 billion a year earlier. The ease in growth of inward remittances was due to fall in monthly inflows. The remittances declined 8.7 percent to $1.47 billion in March 2016 from around $1.6 billion in the same month of the last year
Despite the lower international prices of oil and other commodities, the trade deficit widened 5.35 percent in July-March 2015-16. Exports fell 12.92 percent to $15.606 billion during the period under review as compared to $17.92 billion in the comparable period. The SBP data showed that the total foreign direct investment (FDI) increased 15 percent to $975.4 million in July-March as against $832.2 million a year ago.
