ISLAMABAD:The country’s trade deficit shrank by 30.19% from $4.8 billion in December 2021 to $3.36 billion in January 2022 .
“Our import bill, which was recorded at $7.6 billion last month (December 2021) declined to $5.9 billion in January, 2022, showing a decline of 22%,” Muzammil Aslam, Spokesman for the Finance Minister, told a press conference here Wednesday.
He said the exports also declined by 8% during the period under review, but overall the trade deficit showed a big decline.
On year-on-year basis, Pakistan’s exports witnessed an increase of 18.7% to $2.54 billion in January this year against $2.1 billion in the same month of previous year. The imports during the month also increased by 23% to $5.9 billion from $4.8 billion in January 2021 while the trade deficit during the corresponding period rose by 26% .
On average, the exports during first seven months (July 21-Jan 22) of the current fiscal year surged to $17.7 billion against $14.255 billion in same period of previous year, showing an increase of 24%.
The imports also increased by 58% to $46 billion during Jul 21 – Jan 22 from $29.2 billion in Jul 20-Jan 21, whereas the trade deficit rose to $28 billion during the period under review, thus showing an increase of 92%.
Muzammil Aslam said during the previous few months, the unprecedented increase in the import bill was mainly due to import of COVID vaccine, sugar, and wheat. Since the commodities would not be imported now so there would not be any sudden increase in the import bill.
He said at present there was no need of the import sugar and wheat as the country had their surplus stocks.
The inflation in the country, he added, had reached at its peak now and it would decline in next months along with imports and trade deficit.
The spokesman recalled that in 2008, the prices of commodities had sharply risen in the international market, but the then government committed a major mistake by depleting the country’s foreign exchange reserves to maintain the currency value.
On the other hand, he said, due to the rational approach adopted by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) now, the country’s reserves had not gone down, rather they were on the historical higher side, which the foreign exchange rate too did not lose its value as much as it was expected.
The spokesman said the prices of perishable items in the country were on the declining trend, while unlike during the last year, wheat flour price was also stable this year. Similarly, prices of eggs, chicken, tomatoes, and fresh vegetables were also stable.
He said despite the historical crisis, which the incumbent government had to face in the shape of COVID pandemic and then hike in the the global inflation, it had managed to stabilize the key macroeconomic indicators.