ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s trade deficit widened sharply by more than 30 per cent year-on-year to $2.87 billion in August 2025, as rising imports and a steep drop in exports deepened pressure on the country’s fragile external sector, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) said Tuesday.
The trade gap last year in August 2024 stood at $2.20 billion. The surge was driven by 6.4 per cent increase in imports to $5.29 billion and a 12.5 per cent decline in exports to $2.42 billion.
On a monthly basis, however, the deficit eased 8.8pc from July’s $3.14 billion, offering a brief respite. For the first two months of the 2025-26 fiscal year, the trade deficit climbed 29 per cent to $6.01 billion, up from $4.66 billion in the same period a year earlier. Imports in the July-August period jumped 14.2pc to $11.12 billion, while exports inched up just 0.6pc to $5.1 billion.
The latest data underscores mounting concerns over Pakistan’s external financing needs as import growth continues to outpace sluggish export performance, putting renewed pressure on foreign exchange reserves and currency stability.
Meanwhile, PBS data showed a sharp improvement in the country’s services trade performance in July 2025. The services trade deficit dropped 48.9pc to $125.9 million, compared to $246.4 million in July 2024.
Exports of services rose 18.3pc year-on-year to $745.5 million, while imports slipped 0.61pc to $871.4 million. In July 2024, services exports were valued at $630.4 million and imports stood at $876.8 million.
Notably, in last fiscal year (July-June 2024-25), the trade deficit in services witnessed a decline of 15.84, reaching $2.62 billion in FY25 compared to $3.1 billion in FY24.
In FY25, the economy hired the services of foreign companies for $11 billion and exported services abroad for $8.4 billion. Whereas, in FY24, the country’s services exports were recorded at $7.68 billion, and imports stood at $10.8 billion, representing an increase of 9.23 percent in services exports and a 2.01 percent increase in imports.