ISLAMABAD, Sep 23 (APP): Pakistan’s current account balance turned into a surplus of $297 million in August 2020 against a deficit of $601 million in same month a year ago, led by impressive growth in workers’ remittances and lower import payment.
According to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Wednesday, the current account surplus cumulatively reached to $805 million during first two months (Jul-Aug) of current fiscal year compared to a deficit of $1.2 billion in the same period last year. Efforts to attract workers’ remittances, flexible exchange rate and relatively benign import prices explain the improving current account balance, the central bank said in a statement.
The detail shows that the Current Account Balance without official transfers also witnessed a surplus of $273 million in August as compared to the deficit of $638 million in same month of last year. Balance of trade in goods plunged by 8 percent from $3.6 billion in July-August 2019-20 to $3.3 billion in same period of the year 2020-21. Similarly, deficit of trade in services also narrowed by 50 percent to $462 million compared to $932 million in the period under review.
As a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP), the current account balance witnessed a surplus of 1.8 percent in the two months of current fiscal year as opposed to deficit of 2.8 percent in the same period of last year.
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