UPDATE 1-Pakistan's July-Sept c/a narrows to $462 mln

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KARACHI Oct 21 (Reuters) - Pakistan's current account deficit in the first three months of the 2009/10 fiscal year was a provisional $462 million compared with a deficit of $4.26 billion in the same period last year, the central bank said.

Pakistan recorded a provisional current account surplus of $174 million in September, compared with a revised current account deficit of $19 million the previous month, the bank said.

"The reason for the narrowing of the deficit is a combination of a lower trade deficit and higher remittances," said Khalid Iqbal Siddiqui, director of research at Invest & Finance Securities Ltd.

The trade deficit narrowed to $897 million in September compared with $2.03 billion in September last year. The deficit was $1.04 billion in August. [ID:nISL21660]

Pakistan entered a $7.6 billion emergency International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme last November to avert a balance of payments crisis. The loan was increased to $11.3 billion in July, of which the IMF has disbursed more than $5 billion.

Analysts said foreign buying of Pakistani shares in recent weeks, as well as record remittances in September, were indications of an improving economy.

Remittances rose 22.07 percent to a record $806.12 million in September compared with $660.35 million a year ago. (Reporting by Sahar Ahmed; Editing by Robert Birsel) (For more Reuters coverage of Pakistan, see: here)