ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday lauded his government’s efforts to improve Pakistan’s economy, saying their economic policies were beginning to bear fruit.

The prime minister said this shortly after State Bank of Pakistan announced that Pakistan’s current account deficit had fallen by a massive 73 per cent to $579 million in July, the first month of this fiscal year, as compared to $2.13 billion in the same period of last year.

PM Imran Khan called it a great achievement for his administration.

In a tweet sent out to his 10.2 million followers, the prime minister said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government’s consistent focus was on “reducing external imbalances by reducing imports and increasing exports and remittances”, and that this strategy was “bearing fruit”.

“Current account deficit reduced by more than $6 bn last yr & July this yr deficit is 73% or $1.5 bn lower than July 2018 – a great achievement,” said PM Imran.

The whopping 72.81 percent reduction in the current account deficit came on the back of a 10 percent jump in exports and a decline in imports, and followed the government’s $6 billion bailout agreement with the International Monetary Fund earlier this year.

According to the SBP data, exports climbed 10 percent to $2.233 billion in July, from $2.012 billion in the same period last year. Imports, meanwhile, dropped to $4.08 billion from $5.497 billion.

As a result, the balance of trade in goods narrowed to $1.847 billion, compared to a deficit of $3.485 billion. The balance of trade in services, on the other hand, went down 8.5 percent to $473 million.

Remittances from overseas Pakistanis stood at $2.03 billion in July, compared to $1.98 billion in the same month last year.

The government has set eyes on limiting the CAD at $6.5 billion for the ongoing fiscal year, as per the requirements of the IMF, compared to the $13.5 billion deficit that was witnessed in the previous fiscal year.