Trade deficit soars to $2.194 bn in two months

Pakistan trade deficit jumped to 2.194 billion dollars during the first two months of (July-August) is 38.45 per cent less from the last year's 3.564 billion dollars. According to the Federal Bureau of Statistics, the exports posted a major decline of 13.78 percent during the first two months (July-August) over the same period of last year. The exports also shrank during the period by 26.32 percent and were hardly 2.969 billion dollars as against 3.443 billion dollars for the same period of last year. A negative 5.36 growth in exports has been seen with total exports at 1.480 billion dollars in August 2009 as against exports of 1.564 billion dollars in August 2008. Imports declined by 27.03 percent in August and total import volume declined to 2.524 billion dollars in August 2009 as compared to 3.459 billion dollars in August 2008. Total deficit stood at 1.043 billion dollars as compared to 1.895 billion dollars in August 2008.