ISLAMABAD: The oil import bill posted a paltry growth of over 1 per cent in the first half of the current fiscal year from a year ago, showed data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Monday.

The data analysis suggests that all the groups, including petroleum goods, consumer durables and raw materials, witnessed a growth in imports in July-December 2024-25 over the same period last year.

The overall import bill rose 6.52pc year-on-year to $27.84bn in July-December, mainly due to an increase in the arrival of raw materials, textile products, agriculture products, machinery and automobile sectors.

Product-wise data showed that petroleum group imports posted a paltry growth of 1pc to $8.08bn during the July-December period, with the most significant increase coming from crude oil, up 3.03pc in value. However, a 16.15pc increase was recorded in the total quantity of petroleum crude to 4.98 million tonnes from 4.29 m tonnes last year.

The import cost of petroleum products dipped 7pc during the first half of the current fiscal year from a year ago. In contrast, an 8.38pc increase was recorded in the total quantity imported, bringing the total up to 5.24m tonnes.

On the other hand, liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports increased by 1.95pc while the import of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) surged by 54.15pc during the period under review.

Machinery imports were up 15.69pc to $4.17bn from $3.61bn last year, led by a surge in textile, construction, official and electrical machinery. The import of textile machinery was up by 53.90pc, electrical machinery and apparatus by 31.27pc and construction machinery by 53.06pc.

The imports of the telecommunication group declined by 1.33pc year-on-year, mainly due to the decline in imports of mobile phones during the months under review. The import of mobile handsets declined by 7.46pc during the first half of the current fiscal from a year ago, mainly due to increased tax rates. The overall transport group also witnessed a positive growth of 15.81pc during the first half of the current fiscal year from a year ago. The transport sector’s growth was contributed by CKD/SKD and CBU vehicles.

In the agriculture sector, the import of fertilisers saw a growth of 39.83pc in the first half of the current fiscal year from a year ago, followed by medicinal products of 16.75pc and plastic materials of 6.51pc. However, the import of insecticide declines by 29.95pc during the months under review.

The import of metal growth saw a growth of 5.14pc during July-December mainly due to import of iron and steel scrap.

Published in Dawn, January 21st, 2025

Follow Dawn Business on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook for insights on business, finance and tech from Pakistan and across the world.

Opinion

Editorial

Climate funding gap
17 Feb, 2025

Climate funding gap

PRIME Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s recent appeal for climate finance at the World Governments Summit in the UAE...
UN monitoring report
17 Feb, 2025

UN monitoring report

THE latest report of the UN Security Council’s sanctions monitoring team paints a grim picture of the banned...
Tax policy reform
17 Feb, 2025

Tax policy reform

THE cabinet’s decision to create a Tax Policy Office at the finance ministry has raised hopes that tax policy is...
Maintaining balance
Updated 16 Feb, 2025

Maintaining balance

It must take a more proactive approach to establishing Pakistan’s bona fides.
Welcome return
16 Feb, 2025

Welcome return

IT is almost here; the moment Pakistan has long been waiting for — the first International Cricket Council...
Childhood trauma
16 Feb, 2025

Childhood trauma

BEING a child in this society should not be so hard. But recurrent reports of child abuse — from burying girl...