The country's trade deficit contracted by a significant 35 per cent in the first quarter of the financial year 2020, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported.

The PBS in its quarterly report said that the country's trade deficit stood at $5.727 billion during the quarter ending September 30 as compared to a $8.791bn deficit during the same period last year.

The decline was largely driven by a fall in imports, which reduced by 20.59pc when compared with the first quarter last year. During the period in review, exports increased by a marginal 2.75pc.

According to the PBS data, the volume of exports during the three months clocked in at $5.522bn as compared to $5.374bn exports during the same period last fiscal.

The imports, meanwhile, fell to $11.249bn in July-September 2019 in contrast with $14.165bn during the same period last year.

On a month-on-month basis, exports increased by 2.67pc during the month of September to $1.769bn from $1.723bn in the corresponding month last year. Similarly, imports dropped by 13.90pc to $3.785bn from $4.396bn in September 2018. The trade deficit thus showed a sharp decline of 24.58pc in September 2019 over the same month last year.

A comparison of numbers of September 2019 and of August 2019 shows that exports decreased by 4.99pc in September as compared to the previous month while imports rose by 1.42pc.

In September, exports stood at $1.769bn as opposed to $1.862bn in August. Imports increased to $3.785bn in September from $3.732bn in August this year. The overall trade deficit thus jumped by 7.81pc in September over the previous month.