Oil imports shrink 22pc amid demand slowdown

Amid economic slowdown, the country’s oil import bill and local production of petroleum products declined 21.84 per cent and 11.23pc, respectively, during the first 11 months of FY23. As a consequence, exports of petroleum products were down by 24.61pc in 11MFY23 from a year ago. The foreign sales of crude oil and petroleum products were down by 21.97pc and 32.65pc, respectively. In dollar terms, the oil imports dipped by 21.80pc to $15.38 billion during 11MFY23 from $19.67bn in the same period last year despite higher international prices, according to data released by the Federal Bureau of Statistics (PBS). In rupee terms, the decline was relatively lower at 6.88pc because of massive currency devaluation and amounted to Rs3.713 trillion this year, compared to Rs3.474tr last year.