Petroleum group imports witnessed a negative growth of 34.25 percent during the first two months (July-August) of the current fiscal year and stood at $2.171 billion compared to imports of $3.302 billion during the same period of last fiscal year, according to data released by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

The data shows that petroleum group imports declined by 26.06 percent on a year-on-year (YoY) basis and stood at $1.379 billion in August 2023 compared to $1.8654 billion during August 2022. On a month-on-month (MoM) basis they registered a 74.33 percent growth compared to $791.434 million in July 2023.

Petroleum products imports witnessed 41.44 percent negative growth during July-August 2023-24 (FY24) and stood at $971.373 million compared to $1.658 billion during the same period of last fiscal year. On a MoM basis, they registered 72.41 percent growth and stood at $614.781 million in August compared to $356.590 million in July 2023. On a YoY basis, petroleum products registered 33.93 percent negative growth compared to $930.564 million in August 2022.

The overall imports in August 2023 stood at $4,528 million (provisional) compared to $3,705 million in July 2023 showing an increase of 22.21 percent but decreased by 25.21 percent as compared to $6,054 million in August 2022.

The imports during July-August (FY24) stood at $8.233 billion (provisional) as against $11.035 billion during the corresponding period of last year, showing a decrease of 25.39 percent.

Main commodities of imports during August 2023 were Petroleum products (Rs. 180,628 million), Petroleum crude (Rs. 119,438 million), Natural gas, liquified (Rs. 89,854 million), Palm oil (Rs. 80,346 million), Plastic Materials (Rs. 66,789 million), Electric machinery and apparatus (Rs. 48,536 million), Iron and steel (Rs. 47,489 million), Mobile phones (Rs. 32,712 million), Iron and steel scrap (Rs. 28,618 million) and Medicinal products (Rs. 24,592 million).

Source: Pro Pakistani