The trade deficit of Pakistan reduced by 2.4 percent during the month of September over the same month of the last year, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) has said.
The trade deficit dropped to 2.7 billion US dollars in September which was 2.4 per cent lower when compared with the figures recorded in the same month last year, the PBS said on Wednesday.
The figure was 9 per cent lower when compared with the trade deficit recorded in August, said the official data.
The country's current account deficit fell drastically in August this year at $0.6 billion, which was well below the expectations, reports Xinhua.
Mohammad Sohail, CEO at Topline Securities, said that due to further contraction in the trade deficit, the country’s current account deficit is also likely to shrink for the month of September, provided other statistics for the month stay in line with the previous month's trends.
The country’s exports were calculated at $1.73 billion in September, which were 3.6 per cent more when compared to the exports worth $1.67 billion recorded during the same month of the last year.
The exports deflated by 14 per cent in September to $1.73 billion as against exports worth $2.02 billion registered in August.
Mr Sohail said the decline over August is likely due to the lower exports of agriculture commodities that may pick up the pace going forward as the Pakistani government has recently allowed sugar export of 1 million tons.
Last month, Pakistan's imports were recorded $4.43 billion, which was almost flat over the figure of $4.44 billion posted during the same month of the last year.
The country's imports slumped 11 per cent in September to $4.43 billion as against imports worth $4.99 billion reported in August.
During the first quarter of the fiscal year of 2018-19 (July-September), Pakistan posted a slight improvement of 4.6 per cent to $5.4 billion in its exports, while on the flip side its imports hiked by only 0.6 per cent to $14.3 billion, which resulted in a decline in trade deficit by 1.6 per cent to $8.9 billion.