KARACHI: The country’s current account deficit decreased by $850 million to $2.28 billion in fiscal year 2014-15.
According to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), total current account deficit was recorded $3.13 billion during the previous fiscal year. As a percentage of the gross domestic product (GDP), the current account deficit decreased from 1.3% in 2013-14 to 0.8% in 2014-15.
In the last quarter of 2014-15 alone, the current account balance remained in deficit: it amounted to -$593 million in Apr-June as opposed to a current account surplus of $730 million in the preceding quarter.
The prominent change in the current account balance over the quarter is partly because of a significant increase in the value of goods imported as well as a sharp decrease in the exports of services.
On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the value of goods imported increased to $10.1 billion in Apr-Jun. From imports of goods valuing almost $9 billion in Jan-Mar, the quarter-on-quarter increase remained approximately 13% in Apr-Jun.
The country’s total imports of goods in 2014-15 were $41.1 billion as opposed to $41.6 billion in the preceding fiscal year, which means an annual decrease of 1.2%. Pakistan exported goods worth over $24.1 billion in 2014-15 as opposed to the exports of goods valuing over $25 billion in the year before, reflecting annual decline of 3.7%.
SBP data shows remittances make up for roughly 45% of the country’s import bill and 94.3% of deficit in the goods and services accounts.
