ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) said on Thursday that Pakistan’s imports of food and oil increased by 11.4% in the first two months of the current fiscal year to $5.08 billion from $4.56 billion.
Contrarily, due to weak demand and high local production costs brought on by expensive energy, exports of textiles and garments could only increase by 4.2 percent year over year to $3.05 billion. The cost of importing oil grew by more than 7 percent in July and August compared to the same months last year, rising to $3.30 billion.
Further analysis revealed that the value of petroleum items imported increased by 7.8%.To fill the gap in local output, the cost of importing food increased by nearly 21% to $1.78 billion in the two months under review from $1.47 billion a year earlier. The main contributors to the food group were wheat, sugar, edible oil, spices, tea, and legumes.
Pakistan purchased 622,515 tonnes of wheat to supplement its inadequate domestic supply. In contrast, the cost of importing machinery dropped by 30.6 percent, from $1.86 billion in July-August of last year to $1.29 billion in July-August of this year.
The import of practically all sectors, including mobile phones and textile machinery, played a significant role in the downturn. However, throughout the time under consideration, the electrical machinery experienced an increase.
