Current account deficit declines 68pc.

KARACHI -- Current account deficit declined by 68 per cent to $3.8 billion during the first eight months of the current fiscal year (FY23) from $12bn during the same period last year.

February showed a healthy sign as the CAD fell to just $74 million against $519m last year, the lowest monthly deficit recorded since February 2021. The deficit declined by 86 per cent on a year-on-year (YoY) basis.

The decline in the CAD was due to a fall in imports while no higher exports or inflows were noted. Though the balance of payment reflected a healthy sign for improvement in the external front of the country's economy, the government is unable to meet even this decreasing CAD due to extremely poor foreign exchange reserves.

'On a YoY basis, the primary reason behind the decline in deficit was a 24pc fall in total imports. However, total exports and remittances also decreased by 19pc and 9pc YoY, respectively,' said Tahir Abbas, head of research at Arif Habib Limited.

The February deficit was even much lower than January's $230m. The decline made a trend for the CAD during FY23 and may end up with much lower deficit compared to last year. The CAD stood at 17.4bn during the last fiscal year (FY22).

Experts believe the CAD could be around $6bn in FY23. This figure is a real problem for the country as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been asking the government to arrange the amount needed to meet the CAD by the end of FY23.

Pakistan got much-needed support from China which provided two tranches of $700m and $500m to improve the country's foreign exchange reserves that stood at $4.3bn by March 10 this year.

Experts said that due to political uncertainties the friendly counties are reluctant to extend loans as they fear Pakistan may default...

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