For the first 5 months of the current fiscal year (FY2020-2021) the imports of petroleum decreased by 22.78%, as compared to the corresponding period of the FY 2019-2020.
According to the data by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), during this period the total imports of the petroleum group were at $3.946 billion, as opposed to the imports worth $5.110 billion last year. The commodities that contributed to the decrease in petroleum imports included petroleum products, imports of which declined by 16.5%, from $2.174 billion to $1.815 billion.
The imports of petroleum cured decreased by 27.01%, from $1.486 billion last year to $1.085 billion whereas the imports of liquefied natural gas decreased by 34.73% from $1.334 billion to $0.870 billion.
The petroleum products that witnessed an increase in trade included liquefied petroleum gas, imports of which grew by 52.06%, from $114.905 million to $174.726 million.
The imports of all other petroleum group commodities also increased by 8.93%, the data revealed.
Meanwhile, on a year-on-year basis, the petroleum group imports decreased by 16.38% during the month of November as compared to the same month of last year. The petroleum imports during November 2020 were recorded at $777.981 million against the imports of $930.396 million.
On a month-on-month basis, the petroleum imports into the country decreased by 7.44% during November 2020 when compared to the imports of $840.484 million in October 2020, the data revealed.
It is pertinent to mention here that the country’s merchandise exports increased by 2.21% during the first five months of the current fiscal year as compared to the corresponding period of last year.
The exports during July-November (2020-21) were recorded at $9.747 billion against the exports of $9.536 billion in July-November (2019-20), showing a growth of 2.21% according to PBS data.
The imports during the July-November period also increased from $19.175 billion last year to $19.487 billion, showing an increase of 1.63%.
Based on the figures, the trade deficit increased by 1.05% during the period under review as it was recorded at $9.740 billion as compared to the deficit of $9.639 billion during last year.
