Pakistan’s Trade Gap Narrows, Exports See Strong Growth
According to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Tuesday, Pakistan’s trade deficit has marginally reduced to $3.6 billion during the initial two months of the fiscal year 2024-25 (2MFY25), largely due to a notable increase in exports.
The trade balance, reflecting the gap between exports and imports, stood at a deficit of $3.58 billion for the July-August period of FY25. This marks a slight improvement compared to the $3.74 billion deficit recorded in the same period of the previous fiscal year.
In the first two months of FY25, Pakistan’s exports grew by 14%, reaching $5.05 billion, up from $4.43 billion during the corresponding period last year. Simultaneously, imports saw a modest increase of 5.67%, totaling $8.63 billion, compared to $8.17 billion in 2MFY24.
The PBS data highlights a significant year-on-year decline in the trade deficit for August 2024, which decreased by 20.54% to $1.68 billion from $2.11 billion in August 2023. This improvement is attributed to robust export growth, while imports showed a slight decrease.
Exports for August 2024 surged by 15.93% to $2.74 billion, compared to $2.37 billion in the same month of the previous year. Conversely, imports dipped marginally by 1.25%, totaling $4.42 billion in August 2024, down from $4.47 billion in August 2023.
On a month-on-month basis, the trade deficit also saw a decline of 12.03%, falling to $1.68 billion in August 2024 from $1.9 billion in July 2024. During this period, exports rose by 18.9% to $2.74 billion, compared to $2.31 billion in July 2024. Imports, meanwhile, increased by 4.92%, reaching $4.42 billion, up from $4.21 billion in the previous month.
