In March, Pakistan's exports grew by 7.99% to $2.555 billion.

Pakistan's commodity exports have seen continuous growth for the seventh consecutive month in March, albeit at a slightly moderate pace, indicating that the country's struggling economy is continuing to recover.

The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported on Monday that exports in March 2024 increased by 7.99% from the same month last year, reaching $2.555 billion. This marks a significant improvement compared to the continuous decline observed in the nearly one-year period ending September 2023. Since that month (September), exports have shown an upward trend.

However, the data for March did show a slight decrease of 1.08% compared to February 2024, which stood at $2.58 billion. This positive trend, spanning seven consecutive months, began in September with a growth of 1.6%, followed by 12.84% in October, 7.7% in November, and a substantial 22.64% growth in December 2023. Continuing the upward trend, January 2024 saw a growth of 24.72%, February recorded an 18% year-on-year increase, and now March shows a 7.99% increase year-on-year.

In March 2024, imports increased from $3.755 billion in March 2023 to $4.726 billion, marking a 25.86% growth. Compared to the previous month (February 2024) with imports at $4.326 billion, goods purchased from abroad grew by 9.25% in March 2024.

The trade deficit increased by 56.3% from $1.389 billion in March 2023 to $2.17 billion in March 2024. Compared to February 2024's deficit of $1.74 billion, the gap widened by 24.56%.

Interestingly, from July to March of the fiscal year 2023-24, the total export volume amounted to $22.9 billion, showing a growth of 8.9% compared to the same period of the previous fiscal year ($21.04 billion). In contrast, imports from July to March of fiscal year 2023-24 decreased by 8.65% from the same period of the previous fiscal year ($43.72 billion) to $39.94 billion.

Consequently, the trade deficit from July to March of fiscal year 2023-24 decreased by 24.94% from $22.69 billion in the same period of the fiscal year 2023 to $17 billion.

It is worth noting that in the fiscal year 2023, Pakistan's trade deficit decreased by 43% from $48.35 billion in the fiscal year 2022 to $27.55 billion. Export volume decreased by 12.7% to $27.7 billion, and imports shrank by 31% to $55.3 billion.

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