- The trade deficit increases to 55% on the basis of one month to another.
- Service exports increased by 9.7%; Imports increased by 8.74%.
- The country reports a current account surplus of $ 1.2 billion in March.
Islamabad: In the midst of government’s continuous efforts to stabilize economic indicators, the country’s goods exports increased 6.25% in annual shift to $ 26.86 billion in the first 10 months of the 2024-25 financial year, The news reported on Saturday.
However, the figures published by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) revealed a net slowdown, the April exports falling by 8.93% compared to a year earlier and 19% compared to the previous month.
Meanwhile, imports during the July-April period increased by 7.37% to 48.2 billion dollars, driven by a higher demand for machines, fuel and raw materials. Consequently, the trade deficit widened from 8.8% to $ 21.35 billion, increasing pressure on the country’s already fragile external account.
In April 2025 alone, imports increased by 14.1% in annual sliding to $ 5.53 billion, while exports dropped from $ 2.14 billion to $ 2.14 billion. The monthly trade deficit increased by 35.8% to 3.39 billion dollars, compared to $ 2.5 billion in April from last year. According to the Topline Securities brokerage house, the deficit in April 2025 is the highest monthly trade deficit in three years.
On the basis of a month to month, the trade deficit jumped 55% compared to a deficit of $ 2.18 billion declared in March 2025. Exports decreased by 19% compared to March, while imports of 14.5%.
PBS data has also shown that service exports increased 9.7% in annual shift to $ 6.24 billion in the first nine months of fiscal year 25, while imports of services increased from 8.74% to $ 8.55 billion.
This led to an expansion of 6.27% of the trade deficit of the services, which reached $ 2.31 billion. In March 2025, service exports climbed 4.9% to $ 743.3 million, while imports increased by 6.9% to $ 970.1 million compared to the same month of last year.
Despite the worsening of the trade balance, the external account of Pakistan remains resilient, thanks to strong fund entries. The country posted a record current account surplus of $ 1.2 billion in March 2025, powered by 4.1 billion dollars. The Minister of Finance, Muhammad Aurangzeb, said that the current account should remain in a surplus throughout the financial year.
In March 2025, the country recorded its highest monthly current account surplus of $ 1.2 billion. This was motivated by an unprecedented increase in workers’ funds, which reached a summit of $ 4.1 billion during the month.