November 2013 Trade Deficit Narrowed Down To USD 9.22 bn

Ministry Of Commerce & Industry, today, released the trade deficit data for the month of November 2013, which narrowed down to USD 9.22 billion compared to USD10.56 billion in the month of October 2013.

Imports for November month plunged by 16.37% at USD 33.83 billion. Crude-oil imports contracted by 1.1% from the corresponding period last year's import of USD 13.11 billion. While the non-oil import decelerated by 23.69% to USD 20.87 billion.

Further, the import of gold and silver slumped by 80.5% to USD 1.05 billion in the month under review compared to a year earlier. The imports for April to November FY14 declined by 5.39%, came in at USD 303.89 billion.

Exports during the month of November grew by 5.86% in dollar terms to USD 24.61 billion from USD 23.25 billion, worth of goods shipped-out in the corresponding period of 2012. The April to November month exports stood at USD 203.99 billion, up by 6.27% from the similar period last year's exports.

The trade deficit has come down due to the weakness in gold import, as government imposed higher duties to curb the yellow metal import, continuing with the weakness in non-oil imports.