Pakistan’s exports in July showed a negative growth with the first month of current fiscal year showing a decrease of 5.17 percent with a decrease of 23.95 percent on a month-by-month basis.
The data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics shows that exports fell by 5.17 percent to $2.21 billion as compared to the exports in the corresponding month of last year – $2.34 billion.
Comparison on a month-to-month basis has shown that the exports have tumbled by 23.95 percent indicating a downward trend in the sector.
Exports had posted a negative growth of 14.75 percent 22 months ago in August 2020.
Against the data of the last decade when the country’s exports had remained below $30 billion, in the fiscal year 2022 for the first time the export target was not only achieved but it also exceeded the psychological barrier of $30 billion.
In the just-ended year, the exports of Pakistan had increased by 26.6 percent to $31.845 billion.
Pakistan’s import bill in July has also dropped by 12.81 percent to $4.84 billion compared with $5.57 billion in the corresponding month of last year. The import bill showed a dip of 38.31 percent on a month-on-month basis.
Finance Minister Miftah Ismail stated on Twitter on July 31 that the efforts to reduce the import bills had finally borne fruit.
The government has imposed a ban on the import of almost 800 luxury and non-essential goods since May 19. However, in the last week of July government withdrew the ban on all items except automobiles and mobile phones.
In the month of July, the trade deficit had declined by 18.33 percent to $2.64 billion compared with $3.23 billion in the corresponding month of last year.
