The Country’s current account deficit amounted to over $2.48 billion in July-May, according to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Wednesday.
The deficit shrank by 1.1 per cent or $29 million during the last 11 months as it stood at $2.45 billion during the same period of last year.
An analyst said, “The overall situation of the current account is only slightly better because of the inflow of remittances.”
“The Central Bank is facing payment pressure from the international donor agencies including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as the current account is still hovering in deficit,” a banker said. He said the exports of the country have also declined by 12.37 per cent during the 11 months of the current financial year.
The country’s exports came down to $19.2 billion during July-May period of Fiscal Year 2015-16 from $21.9 billion of the corresponding period of previous year.
The latest data from the PBS showed that the country’s imports went down by 2.74 per cent to $40.32 billion during July-May period of the ongoing fiscal year from $41.5 billion of the previous year.
Therefore, trade deficit gap between exports and imports was registered at $21.2 billion during July-May of the year 2015-16 against $19.6 billion of the same period of last year, showing an increase of 8 per cent.
In March 2016, the government announced the much-delayed Strategic Trade Policy Framework (2015-18) to enhance the country’s exports to $35 billion by the end of June 2018.
During the 11-month period, the country’s total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increased to $260.115 billion compared to $248.554 billion during the same period last year, the SBP data showed.
The direct investment of the country increased by 10.5 per cent to $1.083 billion mainly supported by Power, Oil & Gas Explorations and Beverage sectors in July-May 2015-16.
Overseas Pakistani workers remitted $17.842 billion in the first eleven months (July to May) of 2015-16, showing a growth of 5.6 per cent compared with $16.898 billion received during the same period in the preceding year.
During May 2016, the inflow of worker’s remittances amounted to $1.799 billion, which is 8.6 per cent higher than April 2016 and 8.2 per cent higher than May 2015.