ISLAMABAD: The oil import bill surged 15.74 per cent in the first quarter of FY25, indicating that the consumption of petroleum goods is rising.

The data analysis suggests that all the groups, including petroleum goods, consumer durables and raw materials, witnessed a growth in imports during the first quarter of 2024-25 over the same period last year, according to data compiled by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.

The overall import bill rose 10.58pc year-on-year to $13.39 billion in July-September, mainly due to an increase in the arrival of petroleum crude, machinery and automobile sectors.

Product-wise data showed that petroleum group imports increased to $4.05bn against $3.50bn in the corresponding quarter last year.

Of these, the largest increase came from crude oil, up 51.02pc in value. However, a 67.65pc surge was recorded in the total quantity of petroleum crude to 2.565 million tonnes from 1.530m tonnes in the same period last year.

The cost of petroleum products imports dipped 10.60pc during the first three months, whereas a 2.55pc decline was recorded in the total quantity imported, bringing the total down to 2.33m tonnes.

On the other hand, liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports increased 14.30pc while the import of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) surged 71.19pc during the period under review.

Machinery imports were up 21.68pc to $2.02bn from $1.65bn last year, led by a surge in textile machinery-related imports, construction, official and electrical machinery. The import of textile machinery up by 39.82pc, electrical machinery and apparatus 77.85pc and construction machinery posted a growth of 51.78pc.

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2024