Pakistan’s dollar inflows higher than outflows for second consecutive month
Pakistan’s current account recorded back to back surpluses of $508 million in July and $297 million in August, the State Bank of Pakistan said on Wednesday. The current account is a key means of measuring the health of the economy. It records dollar transactions with the rest of the world. In Pakistan’s case, it is usually in deficit or loss as the country spends more dollars than it earns. But data released by the State Bank shows that the combined surplus for July and August was $805 million, while last year, these two months combined recorded a negative balance of $1.2 billion. This is the fourth time the current account balance has reported a surplus since October 2019. Surpluses were recorded in October 2019, May 2020, July 2020 and August 2020. These surpluses could be attributed to low import bills and a rise in the number of remittances sent back home by overseas Pakistanis. Imports of goods were recorded $3.175 billion in August while last year in the same month they wer...