KARACHI: The current account deficit has widened by 102 percent to $2.6 billion during first two months of current fiscal year.
The current account deficit was at $1.28 billion in the same months of the last fiscal year, according to Balance of Payment (BOP) data issued by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Tuesday.
The widening of current account deficit can be attributed to significant rise in imports during the period. The imports registered 24.85 percent growth to $9.78 billion during July – August 2017 as compared with $7.84 billion in the same period of the last year.
The deficit would have been much higher, however, increase in exports and remittances offset the impact. The exports grew by 12 percent to $3.5 billion as compared with $3.12 billion. Similarly, remittances registered growth of 13.2 percent to $3.49 billion as compared with $3.08 billion.
