By Staff Reporter
KARACHI: Pakistan’s current account deficit yawned by 131 percent month-on-month (MoM) in May, as overseas workers’ remittances and exports decreased, outpacing a downtick in imports, the central bank data showed on Tuesday.
The current account gap widened to $1.4 billion in May from $618 million a month ago. It increased by 123 percent year-on-year. The deficit stood at $640 million in May 2021.
Pakistani citizens employed abroad sent home $2.3 billion in remittances in May, down from $3.1 billion in April, and exports of goods declined 21 percent to $2.5 billion.
On a positive note, imports dropped 6 percent MoM to $5.7 billion in May.
Overall imports fell compared to April; however, a decline in remittances and exports on account of the Eid holidays contributed to the rise in the current account deficit, the State Bank of Pakistan said on its official Twitter handle.
“Moreover, excluding in-kind imports that are fully financed and thus do not undermine the sustainability of the CAD, the deficit was more modest at $1 billion,” it added.
The deficit widened to $15.2 billion in 11 months of this fiscal year from $1.2 billion a year earlier. A steeper increase in July-May FY2022 current account deficit was led by a surge in the trade deficit, which rose 58.18 percent to $43.4 billion.
Total imports increased 36 percent YoY to $65.4 billion in July-May FY2022 mainly due to higher oil imports, the SBP data showed. Petroleum imports soared 86 percent to $15.8 billion followed by agriculture and other chemical imports, which stood at $9.7 billion in July-May FY2022, compared with $7.5 billion in the same period of last fiscal year.
However, exports rose 27 percent to $29.3 billion, and remittances increased 6 percent to $28.4 billion.
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