Current account deficit dips to bottom, $74 million in Feb-2023
ISLAMABAD: The current account deficit of Pakistan has dipped to the bottom _ $74 million only in the month of Feb 2023.
In the month of February 2023, CAD narrowed by 86% YoY and 67.8% MoM, to $74 million compared to $519mn in February 2022 and $230mn in January 2023.
Pakistan posted a current account deficit (CAD) of $3.8 billion in 8MFY23, improving by 68.03% YoY as compared to the same period last year.
The State Bank of Pakistan reported this in its latest balance of payment position released on Monday.
The trade deficit in goods narrowed by around 19.4% YoY and 1.34% MoM to $1.73bn in February 2023 as the import of goods declined by 22% YoY while on monthly basis, the import bill remained relatively flat at $3.93bn.
Meanwhile, the trade balance in services also remained negative, down by 90% YoY to clock in at $39mn. To note, in January 2023, the trade balance in services witnessed a surplus of $18mn.
Meanwhile, the worker’s remittances fell by 9.47% YoY while on monthly basis, the remittances increased by 4.96% MoM to $1.988bn, according to Mettis Global.
On a cumulative basis during 8MFY23, remittances by overseas Pakistanis moved down by 12.17% YoY to $20.18bn from $17.99bn recorded in 8MFY22.
I am an experienced writer, analyst, and author. My exposure in English journalism spans more than 28 years. In the past, I have been working with daily The Muslim (Lahore Bureau), daily Business Recorder (Lahore/Islamabad Bureaus), Daily Times, Islamabad, daily The Nation (Lahore and Karachi). With daily The Nation, I have served as Resident Editor, Karachi. Since 2009, I have been working as a Freelance Writer/Editor for American organizations.