Pakistan’s oil imports continue to soar despite high international crude and POL prices, that too when the US dollar is rising against the rupee, the media reported.
According to the details, Pakistan’s crude oil imports in June 2022 were at a record high of 1.12 million tonnes ($838.79 million) against 0.763 million tonnes ($538.67 million) in the previous month of May 2022.
Volumetric imports of crude increased 46.78% over the previous month and 37.2% over June 2021. Whereas in dollar terms, it increased 55.72% over the previous month and 119.2% over the same month of last year.
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On the other hand, Pakistan’s petroleum group imports witnessed a growth of 105.31 percent as it reached $23.318 billion during July-June 2021-22 (FY22) compared to $11.357 billion during the same period of last year, says Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
Important to note that the Pakistani rupee continues its downward trend against the US dollar, plunging to a record-breaking low of 228.37 at the close of Friday’s trade.
During the intraday trading, the rupee fell to as low as 229, but it closed at 228.37, losing Rs1.56 or 0.68%, the data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) showed.
Miftah Ismail hopeful?
Finance Minister Miftah Ismail, however, has expressed that he believes that the economy is on the right track and once political stability returns — which has been uncertain since the coalition government’s take over — the rupee will strengthen against the dollar.
Moreover, Miftah Ismail, in a press briefing, hinted at pausing the import of furnace oil and diesel for the next two months. He said the country “has sufficient stock of diesel, furnace oil, and motor gasoline for two months”.
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Miftah said in view of the availability of the stock, there was no need to import these commodities, which would reduce pressure on the Pakistani rupee.