Pakistan trade deficit hits highest level

Pakistan's trade deficit ballooned to an all-time high of $48.66 billion in the outgoing fiscal year from $30.96bn a year ago, indicating an increase of 57 per cent on the back of higher-than-expected imports, provisional official data showed on Saturday, reports DAWN.
The trade deficit reached such an alarming level despite a ban imposed on more than 800 items in May.
The coalition government's battle against a bloated trade gap has failed to produce the desired result as it widened by 32.3pc to $4.84bn in June from $3.66bn a year ago. It was largely driven by an almost double increase in imports compared to exports.
The outgoing fiscal year's trade deficit has crossed the $37bn figure of 2017-18, which was mostly led by imports related to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
In the subsequent years, the trade gap dropped to $31.8bn in 2018-19 and then further to $23.2bn in 2019-20 before bouncing back to $30.8bn in 2020-21 and then a whopping $48.664bn in 2021-22.
The $48.66bn gap between imports and exports in FY22 is significantly higher than the $30.1bn a year ago
The outgoing year's trade deficit is propelled by the highest-ever increase in oil prices and commodities in the international market.
The trade deficit has been on the rise owing to an unprecedented increase in imports due to a rise in global commodity prices, while exports stagnated at around $2.5bn to $2.8bn a month, mostly those of semi-finished products and raw materials.
The trade deficit came in at $4.04bn in May and $3.78bn in April, which indicates that no let-up was seen in monthly deficits when former prime minister Imran Khan was ousted in April through a vote of no confidence in parliament.
The import bill increased 43.45pc to $80.51bn during 2021-22, up from $56.12bn a year ago.
In June alone, the import bill edged up to $7.74bn from $6.28bn over the same month last year, reflecting an increase of 23.26pc. Imports increased by 14.32pc month-on-month in June. In May the import bill was recorded at $6.77bn while it stood at $6.67bn in April.
Pakistan's exports increased 26.6pc to $31.845bn in the just-ended fiscal year, up from $25.160bn a year ago. Exports grew 6.48pc to $2.89bn in June, up from $2.72bn in the previous year.
Exports rose 18pc to $25.3bn in 2020-21, up from $21.4bn the previous year. In the outgoing fiscal year, the government projected the annual export target for commodities at $31.2bn and services at $7.5bn.