The oil import bill posted a hefty decline of over 26 per cent in the first two months of the current fiscal year from a year ago, showed data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
The data analysis suggests that all the groups including food group, petroleum good, consumer durables and raw materials have witnessed hefty decline in imports during the July-August period of 2019-20 over the same period last year.
The overall import bill declined by 21.41pc year-on-year to $7.67bn in July-August mainly due to decrease in arrival of furnace oil, palm oil and textiles.
Product-wise data showed that petroleum group imports dipped 26.75pc to $1.93bn during the July-August period, with the largest drop coming from crude oil, down 55pc in value.
However, a 46.36pc dip was recorded in terms of the total quantity imported bringing down to 0.9 million tonnes.
On the other hand, liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports declined 8.75pc while the import of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) surged 39.72pc during the period under review.
The overall transport group also witnessed a negative growth. The import of motor vehicle dropped by over 41pc during July-August.
The overall food group import declined by 26.8pc during July-August mainly due to imposition of regulatory duties on proceeds foods. The import of soyabean oil, however, posted a growth of 122.4pc.
However, textile and clothing exports posted a paltry growth of 2.3pc to $2.303bn during the first two months of current fiscal year as against $2.215bn over the last year.
