Pakistan's Trade Deficit Expands Significantly Amid Export Decline and Import Growth
The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported on Monday that the country's merchandise exports totaled $20.462 billion during the first eight months of the current fiscal year, covering July to February 2025-26. This figure represents a notable decrease of 7.30 percent compared to the $22.073 billion recorded in the same period of the previous fiscal year, 2024-25.
Imports Increase and Trade Deficit Widens
In contrast to the export decline, imports into Pakistan showed a substantial rise, increasing by 8.06 percent. The import value climbed from $42.110 billion in July-February 2024-25 to $45.504 billion in July-February 2025-26. As a result, the trade deficit for the first eight months of the fiscal year was recorded at $25.042 billion, marking a significant increase of 24.98 percent from the deficit of $20.037 billion in the corresponding period last year.
Monthly Export and Import Trends
On a year-on-year basis, exports in February 2026 decreased by 8.76 percent to $2.272 billion, down from $2.490 billion in February 2025. Imports also experienced a slight decline of 1.61 percent during the same period, falling from $5.339 billion to $5.253 billion.
When examining month-on-month changes, exports in February 2026 saw a sharp drop of 25.63 percent compared to January 2026, when they stood at $3.055 billion. Similarly, imports decreased by 9.51 percent from $5.805 billion in January 2026 to $5.253 billion in February 2026, according to the PBS data.
Note: The article also mentions a separate development where DIB Pakistan has partnered with Hakeem Easy Finance to digitize the Sharia process for personal finance, but this is unrelated to the trade statistics and is not included in the main analysis.
