PTI’s Pakistan: Current account deficit shrinks to $2.78bn

The country’s current account deficit (CAD) — a trade measurement that says a country imported more goods, services, and capital than it exported — decreased to $2.78 billion during the first nine months of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2020, a decline of 73 per cent as compared to the $10.284 billion CAD recorded in the corresponding period last year, data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has revealed.

The CAD for March stood at $6 million, as against $823 million recorded in March last year, and $198 million recorded in February 2020, Profit reported.

Most of this was driven by the decline in imports, which fell 19.3 per cent year-on-year to $4.118 billion in March. Exports of goods also fell 10.8 per cent year-on-year to $2.037 billion in March.

Additionally, there was a 9.2 per cent rise in the inflow of workers’ remittances, which were recorded at $1.734 billion.

The trade deficit in total balance of goods and services was recorded at $2.368 billion in March, an improvement over the deficit recorded in February ($1.969 billion).

During the July-March FY20 period, the total deficit in goods and services balance stood at $17.1 billion, a decline of 30.8pc from the deficit of $24.7 billion recorded in the corresponding period of last year.