Current Account Surplus of 654 million dollars was recorded for March 2023, according to Finance Minister Ishaq Dar. He stated that there would be a current account deficit (CAD) of 36 million dollars in February 2023.
According to the minister, CAD for fiscal year 2023 is forecast to be $3.4 billion from July through March, down from $1.3 billion in fiscal year 22. Compared to a deficit of $36 million in February 2023, the Current Account Balance (CAB) showed a surplus of $654 million in March 2023. According to the most recent information provided by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the current account deficit decreased by 74.1 percent to US$3.372 billion during the first nine months of the current fiscal year 2022–23, as opposed to the deficit of $13.014 billion during the previous year.
On a year-on-year basis, the current account deficit posted a record decline of 60 percent as it went down to $388 million in March 2023 from $981 million in the same month of the year 2022.
According to the data, the exports of goods decreased from $23.706 billion in Jul-March 2022-23 to $21.088 billion in the same period of the current fiscal year. On the other hand, the imports of goods also fell from $52.746 billion to $41.494 billion in the period under review.
The overall trade deficit also shrank to $20.406 billion in the first nine months of FY23 as compared to the deficit of $29.040 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal year.
Similarly, the trade deficit in services also shrank to $229 million this year as compared to the deficit of $4.226 billion in the same period of the previous year.
The deficit of primary income increased to $3.895 billion during the period under review as compared to $3.797 billion in the same period of the previous year.
The combined deficit of goods, services, and primary income also declined to $24.530 billion in the corresponding period while during the same period of last year, the deficit was recorded at $37.103 billion.
