Oil imports surge 23pc in July-August

The country’s oil import bill surged 23 per cent in the first two months (July and August) of the current fiscal year compared to the same period a year ago, according to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Monday. The data showed that imports across all major categories — including petroleum products, consumer durables and raw materials — grew during the two months. The overall import bill grew by 7.2pc year-on-year, reaching $8.75 billion during July-August, driven by increased imports of petroleum crude, machinery and automobiles. A breakdown of the petroleum sector shows that while overall petroleum group imports dropped by 22.7pc to $2.66bn, crude oil imports surged by 107pc in value. In terms of volume, petroleum crude imports increased by 118pc, with 1.66 million tonnes imported compared to 762,252 tonnes during the same period last year.