Oil import bill shrinks by 20.90% to $5.64bn in 7 months

The country’s oil import bill witnessed reduction of 20.90 percent during the first seven months of the current fiscal year as compared to the corresponding period of last year.

The oil imports during July-January (2020-21) were recorded at $5640.751 million against the imports of $7131.451 million during July-January (2019-20), showing decline of 20.90 percent, according to latest data by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

The commodities that contributed in decline of oil import bill included, petroleum products, the imports of which decreased by 15.33 percent, from $3011.154 million last year to $2549.674 million during the current fiscal year.

Likewise, the imports of petroleum cured decreased from $2084.224 million to $1542.401 million, a decline of 26 percent while the imports of natural gas (liquefied) went down by 31.07 percent, from $1850.082 million to $1275.240 million.

On the other hand, the imports of petroleum gas (liquefied) increased from $185.801 million to $273.356 million, showing growth of 47.12 percent while the imports of all other oil products decreased by 57.89 percent, from $0.190 million to 0.080 million.

Meanwhile, on year-on-year basis, the oil import bill shrunk by 12.13 percent to $869.290 million in January 2021 when compared to the imports of $989.225 million in January 2020, the data revealed.

However, the imports during January 2021 increased by 5.39 percent when compared to the imports of $824.862 million in December 2020.

It is pertinent to mention here that the country’s merchandize exports increased by 5.53 percent during the first seven months of the current fiscal year (2020-21) as compared to the corresponding period of last year.

The exports of the country during July-January (2020-21) were recorded at $14.242 billion against the exports of $13.496 billion during July-January (2019-20), according to the latest PBS data.

The imports during the period under review also increased by 6.92 percent by growing from $27.316 billion last year to $29.205 billion during the first seven months of current fiscal year.

Based on the figures, the country’s trade deficit increased by 8.27 percent during the first seven months as compared to the corresponding period of last year. The trade deficit during the first seven months of the current fiscal year was recorded at $14.963 billion against the deficit of $13.820 billion last year.