POL import bill surges 96% to $14.812 bn

The imports of overall petroleum group witnessed an increase of 96.09 percent during the first nine months of the current fiscal year (2021-22) as compared to the corresponding period of the last year.

During the period under review, the total imports of the petroleum group stood at $14.812 billion, as against the imports of $7.553 billion last year, according to the latest data issued by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). Among petroleum commodities, the import of petroleum products rose by 111.45 percent, from $3.447 billion last year to $7.289 billion during the period under review.

The imports of petroleum cured also increased by 82.25 percent, from $2.023 billion last year to $3.687 billion during July-March (2021-22) whereas the imports of liquefied natural gas surge by 91.78 percent from $1.731 billion to $3.320 billion. Similarly, the import of liquefied petroleum gas grew by 46.32 percent, from $351.256 million to $513.964 million whereas the imports of all other petroleum group commodities also increased by 64.48 percent, the data revealed.

Meanwhile, on year-on-year basis, the petroleum group imports witnessed an increase 68.19 percent during the month of March 2022 as compared to the same month of last year. The petroleum imports during March 2022 were recorded at $1864.055 million against the imports of $1108.315 million. On month-on-month basis, the petroleum imports into the country also increased by 48.83 percent during March 2022 when compared to the imports of $1252.494 million in February 2022, the data revealed.

It is pertinent to mention here that the country’s total merchandise exports increased by 24.98 percent during the first nine months of the current fiscal year. The merchandize exports during July-March (2021-22) were recorded at $23.355 billion compared to the exports of $18.687billion during July-March (2020-21), the PBS reported. On the other hand, the merchandize imports went up by 49.10 percent from $39.489 billion last year to $58.877 billion during.