China tops list of countries in terms of Pakistan’s exports to neighbouring countries

Islamabad: China topped the list of countries in terms of Pakistan’s exports to its neighbouring countries in the first four months of the current fiscal year starting on July 1, the country’s central bank said.

State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) informed in a statement that Pakistan’s exports to the seven regional countries witnessed an increase of 14.21 percent in the first four months of the fiscal year (2023-24) as compared to the corresponding months of last year.

The country’s exports to the regional countries including China, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India, Nepal, and the Maldives account for a small amount of US $1443.868 million, which is 14.76 percent of Pakistan’s overall exports of US $9776.912 million during July-October (2023-24).

China tops the list of countries in terms of Pakistan’s exports to its neighbouring, leaving behind other countries such as Bangladesh and Afghanistan, the SBP mentioned.

Pakistan’s exports to China witnessed an increase of 40.36 percent to US $952.216 million in four months of this year from US $678.386 million during last year while exports to Afghanistan also surged to US $180.686 million from US $176.019 million.

The country’s exports to Bangladesh however decreased by 34.73 percent to US $192.193 million this year from US $294.499 million whereas exports to Sri Lanka rose by 2.68 percent to US $114.473 million from US $111.489.

The exports to India decreased to US $0.069 million from US $0.110 million in the previous year. Exports to Nepal increased by 10.91 percent to US $1.138 million from 1.026 million while to Maldives increased by 17.87 percent to US $3.093 million from 2.624 million, the SBP added.

Pakistan also carried out its border trade with the farther neighbour Sri Lanka, India, Nepal, and Maldives.

On the other hand, the imports from seven regional countries were recorded at US $3855.354 million during the period under review as compared to US $4259.578 million during last year, showing a decline of 9.48 percent.

The imports from China during July-October 2023-24 were recorded at US $3737.818 million against the US $4139.263 million during July-October 2022-23, showing a decrease of 9.69 percent during the period.

Among other countries, imports from India are worth US $73.575 million against the imports of US $62.603 million, an increase of 17.52 percent while imports from Afghanistan decreased by 81.30 percent from US $10.151 million to US $1.898 million.

Imports from Sri Lanka witnessed a 4.30 percent increase from US $20.348 million to US $21.224 million whereas Pakistan imports from Bangladesh recorded US $ 20.672 million from US $26.991 million during last year. The imports from Nepal into the country witnessed a decrease of 81.08 percent from US $0.222 million to US $0.042 million, the SBP added.