Pakistan's trade deficit during the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2021-22 stood at $11.7 billion with an increase of 100 per cent in comparison with the same period of previous financial year, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.

The hike in trade deficit is attributed to exceptional increase in imports.

As per the PBS statistics, trade deficit, which comprised of difference between imports and exports, during FY2020-21 July to September stood at $5.9 billion which was 100 per cent less than the figures of the current fiscal year of the same period.

From the increasing tendency of trade defict in the first quarter of the fiscal year, it was expected that by the end of the current financial year the figures would surpass $28.4 billion — which was the targeted fiscal deficit by the year end.

Imports during the current fiscal year from July to September stood at $7 billion with an increase of 27.3 per cent in comparison with the same period of FY2020-21 in which the import figure was $5.4 billion.

According to the PBS, exports during the first quarter of the current financial year from July to September stood at $18.6 billion with an increase of 65 per cent in comparison with the same period of the fiscal year 2020-21.