The imports of overall petroleum group witnessed an increase of 96.09 percent during the first nine months of the current fiscal year (2021-22) as compared to the corresponding period of the last year.
During the period under review, the total imports of the petroleum group stood at $14.812 billion, as against the imports of $7.553 billion last year, according to the latest data issued by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). Among petroleum commodities, the import of petroleum products rose by 111.45 percent, from $3.447 billion last year to $7.289 billion during the period under review.
The imports of petroleum cured also increased by 82.25 percent, from $2.023 billion last year to $3.687 billion during July-March (2021-22) whereas the imports of liquefied natural gas surge by 91.78 percent from $1.731 billion to $3.320 billion.
Read more: Government revisits the decision not to increase petrol prices
Similarly, the import of liquefied petroleum gas grew by 46.32 percent, from $351.256 million to $513.964 million whereas the imports of all other petroleum group commodities also increased by 64.48 percent, the data revealed.
Meanwhile, on year-on-year basis, the petroleum group imports witnessed an increase 68.19 percent during the month of March 2022 as compared to the same month of last year. The petroleum imports during March 2022 were recorded at $1864.055 million against the imports of $1108.315 million.
✨ #Pakistan’s trade deficit hit record high
🇵🇰’s #trade deficit widened 70.14% YoY to record at $35.393 billion in 9MFY22.
– #imports: $58.691 bn
– #exports: $23.298 bn🆙Economic experts said:
– import bill to stay high
– #inflation has peaked…🔗https://t.co/4tx4ccyFK3 pic.twitter.com/FD8CqJW0tK
— WealthPK (@pk_wealth) April 17, 2022
On month-on-month basis, the petroleum imports into the country also increased by 48.83 percent during March 2022 when compared to the imports of $1252.494 million in February 2022, the data revealed. It is pertinent to mention here that the country’s total merchandise exports increased by 24.98 percent during the first nine months of the current fiscal year.
The merchandize exports during July-March (2021-22) were recorded at $23.355 billion compared to the exports of $18.687billion during July-March (2020-21), the PBS reported.
Read more: Tackling the issue of rising import bills in Pakistan
On the other hand, the merchandize imports went up by 49.10 percent from $39.489 billion last year to $58.877 billion.
Courtesy: APP