Trade deficit shrinks by $2 Billion in First seven months

[Khan_21]

DAWN.COM
TODAY'S PAPER | FEBRUARY 12, 2019

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• Trade deficit shrinks by over $2 billion in first seven months of 2018-19[/paste:font]
  APPFebruary 12, 2019
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  The trade deficit contracted by over $2 billion to $19.264 billion in the July-January period of 2018-19 against a deficit of $21.32 billion during the corresponding months last year. — File
  
  Pakistan's trade deficit plunged by 9.66 per cent to $19.26 billion during the first seven months of the current fiscal, as compared to the same period last year.
  
  Data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Monday showed the trade deficit contracted by over $2 billion to $19.264 billion in the July-January period of 2018-19 against a deficit of $21.32 billion during the corresponding months last year.
  
  Exports increased by 2.24pc to $13.23 billion during the period under review from $12.94 billion in the same period of 2017-18.
  
  Meanwhile, imports declined by 5.17pc to $32.49 billion from $34.27 billion in the first seven months.
  
  ARTICLE CONTINUES AFTER AD
  A statement issued by the Ministry of Commerce said that its interventions to effectively control the fast-widening trade deficit have started delivering positive results.
  
  It said in the month of January 2019 alone, the trade deficit plunged by $1.14 billion. In January, imports declined by $1.07 billion (19pc) while exports rose by 4pc.
  
  Imports have started declining due to a number of policy interventions by the government that include import contraction measures like regulatory duties on non-essential items, improved energy supply, import substitution, economic stabilisation and currency devaluation.
  
  Imports of non-essential consumer items have declined as a result of regulatory duties. In January 2019, imports of products that are subject to regulatory duties declined by 16pc. Import of power generation equipment too has declined by $724 million.
  
  After the restriction imposed on the import of furnace oil, its imports fell from 3 million MT to 0.4 million MT.
  
  The growth in exports over the seven months was driven by a number of items.
  
  Exports of articles of apparel increased by $306 million; copper and footwear also registered healthy growth. Cement exports have shown a 50pc increase in July-January.
  
  Agricultural exports including wheat, rice, citrus, ethanol, dates, and potatoes also increased by $248 million.
  
  Potato exports have shown a 116pc growth in value terms and 120pc increase in terms of quantity.
  
  
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[Pakistansdefender]

Amazing news.

 

[Rafi]

On the right track.

 

[Fawadqasim1]

the bitter pills seems to be working fine.

 

[ziaulislam]

DAWN.COM
TODAY'S PAPER | FEBRUARY 12, 2019

• HOME
  
• LATEST
  
• PAKISTAN
  
• OPINION
• Trade deficit shrinks by over $2 billion in first seven months of 2018-19[/paste:font]
  APPFebruary 12, 2019
  Facebook Count1
  Twitter Share
  0
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The trade deficit contracted by over $2 billion to $19.264 billion in the July-January period of 2018-19 against a deficit of $21.32 billion during the corresponding months last year. — File
  
  Pakistan's trade deficit plunged by 9.66 per cent to $19.26 billion during the first seven months of the current fiscal, as compared to the same period last year.
  
  Data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Monday showed the trade deficit contracted by over $2 billion to $19.264 billion in the July-January period of 2018-19 against a deficit of $21.32 billion during the corresponding months last year.
  
  Exports increased by 2.24pc to $13.23 billion during the period under review from $12.94 billion in the same period of 2017-18.
  
  Meanwhile, imports declined by 5.17pc to $32.49 billion from $34.27 billion in the first seven months.
  
  ARTICLE CONTINUES AFTER AD
  A statement issued by the Ministry of Commerce said that its interventions to effectively control the fast-widening trade deficit have started delivering positive results.
  
  It said in the month of January 2019 alone, the trade deficit plunged by $1.14 billion. In January, imports declined by $1.07 billion (19pc) while exports rose by 4pc.
  
  Imports have started declining due to a number of policy interventions by the government that include import contraction measures like regulatory duties on non-essential items, improved energy supply, import substitution, economic stabilisation and currency devaluation.
  
  Imports of non-essential consumer items have declined as a result of regulatory duties. In January 2019, imports of products that are subject to regulatory duties declined by 16pc. Import of power generation equipment too has declined by $724 million.
  
  After the restriction imposed on the import of furnace oil, its imports fell from 3 million MT to 0.4 million MT.
  
  The growth in exports over the seven months was driven by a number of items.
  
  Exports of articles of apparel increased by $306 million; copper and footwear also registered healthy growth. Cement exports have shown a 50pc increase in July-January.
  
  Agricultural exports including wheat, rice, citrus, ethanol, dates, and potatoes also increased by $248 million.
  
  Potato exports have shown a 116pc growth in value terms and 120pc increase in terms of quantity.
  
  
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  Twitter Share

Export growth will be witnessed around june july after period..right about the time when Closed mills starts chunning products and bring recipts backs

 

[Kambojaric]

Superb. Hopefully this trend can continue!

 

[VCheng]

Exports increased by 2.24pc to $13.23 billion during the period under review from $12.94 billion in the same period of 2017-18.

Meanwhile, imports declined by 5.17pc to $32.49 billion from $34.27 billion in the first seven months.

So please correct me if I am wrong. Pakistan is still importing more than TWICE of what it exports.

 

[American Pakistani]

So please correct me if I am wrong. Pakistan is still importing more than TWICE of what it exports.

That's what it seems per the article.

Very tiny progress but anyways any progress is good. Still a very long way to go.

 

[Imad.Khan]

So please correct me if I am wrong. Pakistan is still importing more than TWICE of what it exports.

yes it is, and imports will remain high for a foreseeable future. The only way to combat that is for Pakistan to start manufacturing value added items.

 

[ALi Rizwan]

yes it is, and imports will remain high for a foreseeable future. The only way to combat that is for Pakistan to start manufacturing value added items.

Sir we need to realize that our strength is not high end product but a low cost competitive product which you can't achieve with expensive Wapda, Diesel & LNG.
Your Textile sector didn't have problem for order but cost for producing them increased exponentially.

So please correct me if I am wrong. Pakistan is still importing more than TWICE of what it exports.

Sir the figures are not that bad considering people believe in additional roads and imported fuels for Power House then Dams.
Not only Agri Sector & economy but also our life depend on it.
Pakistan has enough Hydral potential that not only it can cover our existing and future power needs but we can also switch to Electric cars and from Gas to electric appliance & not only existing items export will increase but it will also create international market for those items which were not exported because of higher production cost.

 

[Arsalan]

So please correct me if I am wrong. Pakistan is still importing more than TWICE of what it exports.

Yes.

That's what it seems per the article.

Very tiny progress but anyways any progress is good. Still a very long way to go.

Tiny?
Sir its almost 10% decrease in the deficit. That is massive.

 

[araz]

So please correct me if I am wrong. Pakistan is still importing more than TWICE of what it exports.

People who look for miracles overnight generally tend to be disappointed. So be please at progressive change in the right direction.
A

 

[VCheng]

People who look for miracles overnight generally tend to be disappointed. So be please at progressive change in the right direction.
A

I agree that the direction is encouraging, but the magnitude of the task will definitely take "deep structural reforms" as PMIK recently agreed with Ms. Lagarde. One hopes that this direction can be maintained.

Sir the figures are not that bad considering people believe in additional roads and imported fuels for Power House then Dams.
Not only Agri Sector & economy but also our life depend on it.
Pakistan has enough Hydral potential that not only it can cover our existing and future power needs but we can also switch to Electric cars and from Gas to electric appliance & not only existing items export will increase but it will also create international market for those items which were not exported because of higher production cost.

You are correct that figures could be worse, so one must appreciate even the baby steps in the right direction.

Yes.

Tiny?
Sir its almost 10% decrease in the deficit. That is massive.

The figures mean that the immense pressure on the BoP situation will remain for the foreseeable future.

 

[ziaulislam]

Sir we need to realize that our strength is not high end product but a low cost competitive product which you can't achieve with expensive Wapda, Diesel & LNG.
Your Textile sector didn't have problem for order but cost for producing them increased exponentially.


Sir the figures are not that bad considering people believe in additional roads and imported fuels for Power House then Dams.
Not only Agri Sector & economy but also our life depend on it.
Pakistan has enough Hydral potential that not only it can cover our existing and future power needs but we can also switch to Electric cars and from Gas to electric appliance & not only existing items export will increase but it will also create international market for those items which were not exported because of higher production cost.

Exactly we were doing thungs in reverse directions

Instead of spending 1 billion dollars on lahore isl motorway we could have spent that money on hydroDams we could have cheaper power..at that time that money was enough to build smaller dams like munda
Projects like dasu bhahsa munda tarbela were all delayed for "lack of funding" only 100% foreign funded projects like tarbela, mangla and dasu went through while money was spent on BRTs

It should have been the other way around..foreign finding for BRTs with good return. And local funding for critical power projects to ger the power cheaper

PPP did that for 3 smaller projects

 

[ALi Rizwan]

You are correct that figures could be worse, so one must appreciate even the baby steps in the right direction.

Sir these babies step will not resolve the main issue in Hand.
1> Hydral Projects - Electricity exp, Imported Fuel/Coal/Diesel/LNG/Gen, Agri man sector of economy & Water level going down
2> Govt facilitating investment instead of giving jobs - Govt. Dept Over employed - Salary many time greater then pvt. sector - Many Incompetent employee - Ancient working environment (Multi-window operation /lot of paper work)- output below average - Zero accountability - Corruption

Exactly we were doing thungs in reverse directions

Instead of spending 1 billion dollars on lahore isl motorway we could have spent that money on hydroDams we could have cheaper power..at that time that money was enough to build smaller dams like munda
Projects like dasu bhahsa munda tarbela were all delayed for "lack of funding" only 100% foreign funded projects like tarbela, mangla and dasu went through while money was spent on BRTs

It should have been the other way around..foreign finding for BRTs with good return. And local funding for critical power projects to ger the power cheaper

PPP did that for 3 smaller projects

Sir the problem is massive borrowing from PPP & PMLN. Where did the money go???? Dam will generate huge revenue and we will be able to pay back loan with interest no problem.
Now take example of Metro not only we are getting anything from this massive project but we are paying daily subsidies + its maintenance cost.
And all the BRT project that were launched none of them is financially feasible. Massive infrastructure cost don't justified for bus that travel after every 5 min(best time) - not 24 hrs - while rest of people stuck in traffic jam including Ambulance.