KARACHI: The current account deficit has decreased by 93 percent to $109 million in the first quarter of the current financial year of 2015-16 mainly due to falling imports and rising foreign inflows.
According to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) data, current account deficit narrowed to 0.1 percent of gross domestic product in the July-September period of 2015/16 from $1.631 billion (2.4 percent of GDP) in July-September of 2014/15.
The SBP data showed that the current account posted a surplus of $306 million in September 2015 compared with a deficit of $240 million in the previous month. That was due to lowering deficit in services trade.
The trade gap decreased to $5.51 billion in the first three months of the current fiscal year as against $6.474 billion in the same period a year ago. This decrease was not because of any jump in exports, but as a result of fall in imports.
Pakistan exported goods worth $5.421 billion in July-September 2015/15 as compared to $5.959 billion in the comparable period. Imports were down to $9.943 billion from $12.013 billion a year earlier.
Pakistan attracted $106 million in capital inflows in three months of this fiscal year. Foreign direct investment rose to $216 million from $201 million a year earlier.
The $505 million receipts from the International Monetary Fund under the extended fund facility, $500 million as proceeds of Pakistan international bonds, and $263 million as syndicate financing for the government in September pushed the country’s reserves to an all-time high of $20 billion, which are sufficient to cover imports of more than six months. The foreign reserves of the State Bank reached $15.202 billion.
Pakistan received $376 million from the United States under the coalition support fund in September, bringing the quarter receiving to $713 million.
