Pakistan's July-Sept c/a narrows to $462 mln: Reuters

KARACHI, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Pakistan's current account deficit in the first three months of the 2009/10 fiscal year was a provisional $462 million compared with a deficit of $4.26 billion in the same period last year, the central bank said.

Pakistan recorded a provisional current account surplus of $174 million in September, compared with a revised current account deficit of $19 million the previous month, the bank said.

"The reason for the narrowing of the deficit is a combination of a lower trade deficit and higher remittances," said Khalid Iqbal Siddiqui, director of research at Invest & Finance Securities Ltd.

The trade deficit narrowed to $897 million in September compared with $2.03 billion in September last year. The deficit was $1.04 billion in August. [ID:nISL21660]

Pakistan entered a $7.6 billion emergency International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme last November to avert a balance of payments crisis. The loan was increased to $11.3 billion in July, of which the IMF has disbursed more than $5 billion.

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Pakistan's July-August c/a deficit narrows to $527 mln: Forbes

KARACHI, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Pakistan's current account deficit in the first two months of the 2009/10 fiscal year was a provisional $527 million, compared with a deficit of $2.68 billion in the same period last year, the central bank said.

Pakistan recorded a current account surplus of $82 million in August, compared with a current account deficit of $606 million in July, the bank said.

A lower trade deficit and record remittances accounted for the swing, according to Asif Qureshi, director at Invisor Securities Ltd.

Pakistan's trade deficit narrowed to $1.04 billion in August, compared with $1.89 billion in August last year. The deficit was $1.15 billion in July.

Pakistan entered a $7.6 billion emergency International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme last November to avert a balance of payments crisis. The loan was increased to $11.3 billion in July, of which the IMF has so far disbursed over $5 billion.

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Pakistan's current account deficit narrows in 2008/09: Forbes

KARACHI, July 16 (Reuters) - Pakistan's current account swung back into deficit in June, but the overall deficit for the 2008/09 fiscal year narrowed by over a third compared with a year earlier, the central bank said on Thursday.

The current account recorded a deficit of $635 million in June compared with a revised surplus of $283 million in May, data from the State Bank of Pakistan showed.

Analysts said higher imports of oil products, in anticipation of rising fuel prices, were probably behind the fall back into deficit.

Still, the deficit for the fiscal year that ended on June 30 fell to a provisional $8.861 billion, down from a revised $13.866 billion the previous year.

Pakistan entered a $7.6 billion emergency International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme late last year to avert a balance of payments crisis.

The full-year deficit is now equivalent to about 5.4 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

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Current account deficit shrinks in July-April: Dawn

KARACHI: Pakistan’s current account deficit narrowed to $8.547 billion during the 10 months to April compared with $11.173 billion in the same period a year earlier, the State Bank of Pakistan said on Monday.

Analysts said the main reason for the narrowing in the shortfall was lower global commodity prices.

For the month of April, the current account recorded a deficit of $457 million compared with a revised deficit of $243 million in March.

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Pakistan July-April Current Account Gap $8.55 Billion Vs $11.17 Billion: Nasdaq

KARACHI -(Dow Jones)- Pakistan's current-account deficit narrowed to $8.55 billion in the 10 months to April 30, the central bank said Monday.

The current-account gap in the corresponding period a year earlier was $11.17 billion, the State Bank of Pakistan said in a statement.

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Current account deficit narrows 14pc: The News

KARACHI: Pakistan’s current account deficit narrowed by 13.7 per cent between July and February 2008-09 over the same period of previous year after improvement in trade balance and overseas Pakistanis sent home more remittances.

In the first eight months of the current fiscal year, the deficit in current account balance shrank to $7.45 billion from $8.64bn in the same period of 2007-08, showed the State Bank of Pakistan’s data released on Wednesday.

Trade deficit came down to $8.8bn from $9.2bn as exports slightly improved while falling international commodity prices slowed import growth, it revealed.

A freefall in international prices of commodities like crude oil and edible oil, which Pakistan heavily imports, has helped improve a worsening trade balance, one of the reasons which compelled the country to seek International Monetary Fund’s loan to avert a balance of payments crisis.

Exports between July and Feb 2008-09 totalled $13bn against $12.4bn recorded in the corresponding period of previous year. In the same period, imports were $21.8bn against previous $21.7bn.

Even though imports are a little higher, their growth has been substantially controlled when compared with the first July-Sept quarter of 2008-09. Trade deficit almost doubled to $4.1bn in the first quarter compared to previous year’s $2.3bn.

Another factor which greatly contributed to improving the current account deficit was workers’ remittances, which went up to $4.9bn from $4.1bn in eight months.

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Pakistan records c/a surplus of $146 mln in Feb: Reuters

KARACHI (Reuters) - Pakistan's current account recorded a surprise surplus of $146 million in February which analysts attributed to lower global commodity prices.

The current account was last in surplus in June 2007.

"The number for February as a current account surplus is a positive surprise," said Asif Qureshi, head of research at Invisor Securities Ltd.

"It manifests reducing external account pressures due to a combination of restrictive demand management policies and lower international commodity prices."

The current account deficit for January was $279 million, the State Bank of Pakistan said.

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Pakistan says economic problems easing: Forbes

Economic woes complicating Pakistan's struggle against Islamic militants are easing thanks to a tough rescue plan backed by the International Monetary Fund, but the program needs more than a year to succeed, the country's finance chief said Friday.

The perilous state of Pakistan's economy - which faced trouble even before the global economic crisis - is raising concern that unemployment and inflation will destabilize the nuclear-armed nation's pro-Western government and fan Islamist violence.

Shaukat Tarin told reporters the country's budget and trade deficits have already narrowed considerably.

The government's budget deficit will decline from 7.4 percent of gross domestic product in the past fiscal year, when ended in June, to between 4 percent and 4.2 percent in the current year, Tarin said.

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Pakistan's July/Dec c/a deficit narrows to $6.053 bln: Reuters

KARACHI, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Pakistan's current account deficit narrowed in the six months from July through December to $6.053 billion, compared with $7.269 billion the same period last year, the central bank said on Friday.
The current account deficit for December fell to $458 million from $800 million in November, the State Bank of Pakistan said on its website.
Analysts said this was mainly due to a decrease in international oil prices. Oil was trading at $36 a barrel on Friday, compared to a record high of $147 in July last year.
Analysts said this would ease pressure on the central bank to raise the discount rate in the near term.
A six-monthly monetary policy meeting is due to be announced on Jan. 31, the central bank said on Friday.

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