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The country’s goods trade deficit with the rest of the world reduced slightly in the first five months of the current fiscal year (FY23).
The latest balance of payments (BoP) statistics, released by the central bank on Monday, showed that the trade deficit in goods was US$ 11.80 billion in the July-November period of FY23, compared to $12.60 billion in the same period of FY22.
Slower growth in imports, combined with faster growth in exports, aided in closing the trade gap.
Imports in terms of free on board (fob) registered 4.41 per cent growth in the first five months of the current fiscal year against 11.75 per cent growth in exports.
As the central bank has put some restrictions on non-essential imports to ease the foreign exchange reserve, growth in imports has slowed down.
The current account deficit also reduced to $5.67 billion during the period under review, compared with $6.22 billion in the first five months of FY22.
Nevertheless, the overall deficit in BoP increased significantly to $6.38 billion in July-November period in 2022 which was $2.02 billion in the same period of the previous year.
Decline in medium and long-term loans mounted pressure on BoP and turned the financial account balance into negative.