ISLAMABAD: According to data provided by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday, a sharp decline in global demand caused Pakistan’s product exports to decrease for the second consecutive month in December.
Better orders and currency rate stability helped the growth momentum gain up speed in July. It is expected that demand from North America and Europe would increase starting in January.
August saw a growth of 16.52 percent, September saw a growth of 13.52 percent, October saw a growth of 10.64 percent, November saw an increase of 8.98 percent, and December saw a growth of 0.67 percent.
Khurram Mukhtar, patron-in-chief of the Pakistan Textile Exporters Association, told Dawn that exports have always decreased in December because of vacations. Donald Trump, the US president-elect, has hinted at potential tariff hikes on South American and Chinese goods, he said. Mr. Mukhtar also mentioned that there are already a lot of orders in the works and that US buyers and merchants are traveling to Pakistan to place orders.
Trade imbalance rises 35 percent to $2.44 billion.
In December, exports totaled $2.84 billion, up from $2.82 billion in the same month the previous year. On a monthly basis, exports grew by 0.28 percent.
Export earnings during the first half of FY25 were $16.56 billion from July to December of this year, up 10.52 percent from $14.98 billion in the same period last year.
In recent months, international customers have switched from obtaining apparel from Bangladesh and China to Pakistan. It enables exporters to seize the market and take advantage of the opportunity.
According to Mr. Mukhtar, exporters’ sales tax refunds have been approved by the Federal Board of Revenue; however, payments for other categories are still pending. He emphasized that in order to assist exporters in fulfilling export orders from overseas clients, the government must solve the concerns of energy and money.
The exporters claim that high input costs reduce their margins and their ability to expand and reinvest. To encourage exports from the nation, the Ministry of Commerce has already presented the prime minister with a number of ideas.
Pakistan’s merchandise exports increased 10.54 percent to $30.64 billion in FY24 from $27.72 billion the year before.
deficit in trade
PBS data shows that imports increased 6.11 percent to $27.73 billion in July-December FY25 from $26.14 billion in the previous year. In December, imports reached $5.28 billion, up from $4.50 billion the previous year. The monthly rise in imports was 17.44%.
For FY25, the IMF lowered its import prediction by $3.3 billion from $60.5 billion to $57.2 billion, which was in line with the government’s $57.3 billion estimate. Imports decreased by 0.84 percent to $54.73 billion in FY24 from $55.19 billion in FY23.
From July to December of FY25, the trade deficit grew by 0.18 percent to $11.17 billion from $11.15 billion the previous year. The deficit grew from $1.82 billion to $2.44 billion in December, a 34.80% rise from the previous year. In FY24, the trade imbalance shrank from $27.47 billion to $24.08 billion.
