KARACHI: In terms of TEUs (20ft box), Pakistan’s overall import declined 5.5 per cent to 1.37 million TEUs in FY22 as compared with 1.45 million TEUs last fiscal year.
However, the collection of duty/taxes on these imports surged 31.6 per cent to Rs1.8 trillion compared with Rs1.4 trillion collected in the previous year. The value of all these imports clocked in at Rs8.8 trillion in FY22 compared with Rs5.78 trillion in FY21.
Last year PTI government pursued anti-smuggling campaign, and Customs formations (Bs-21 and BS-20 PCS officers) were appointed very critically. Large scale crack down was also launched on under-invoicing and mis-declaration, which resulted in increased revenue collection. Due to curbs on smuggling, cargo was switched to legal trade, and since its costs more the quantum declined.
Exports from the country witnessed an increase of 25.51 percent during the fiscal year 2021-22 (FY22) as compared to FY21, totaling $31.076 billion, so far the highest figure in Pakistan’s exports.
According to PBS data, the exports were recorded at $31.760 billion during July-June (2021-22) against the exports of $25.304 billion recorded during July-June (2020-21). PBS’s monthly summary on foreign trade statistics for June 2022 shows that imports increased by 41.93 percent during the last fiscal and stood at $80.019 billion compared to $56.380 billion during the same period of the previous year (FY21).
However, the country’s trade deficit also widened by 55.29 percent during the last fiscal, reaching a whopping $48.259 billion. The country’s trade deficit widened by 33.41 percent on a year-on-year (YoY) basis, jumping from $3.624 billion in June 2021 to $4.835 billion in June 2022.
On the other hand, exports registered 5.83 percent growth on a YoY basis and increased from $2.758 billion in June 2021 to $2.887 billion in June 2022 while imports registered an increase of 21.57 percent on a YoY basis and jumped from $6.352 billion in June 2021 to $7.722 billion in June 2022.
According to the PBS data, the trade deficit widened by 16.48 percent on a month-on-month basis from $4.151 billion in May 2022 to $4.835 billion in June 2022.
Imports increased by 13.94 percent on a month-on-month basis and stood at $7.722 billion in June 2022 compared to $6.777 billion in May 2022.
Exports increased by 9.94 percent on a month-on-month basis and stood at $2.887 billion in June 2022 compared to $2.626 billion in May 2022.