Pakistan’s current account posts third straight monthly surplus

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s current account has recorded a surplus for the third straight month owing to a significant growth in remittances and exports which have outpaced the rise in imports.

According to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the current account surplus for October stood at $349 million. This marks big improvement from last month’s surplus of $86 million. October 2023 saw current account deficit of $287 million.

The country registered surplus of $218 million in the first four months of the ongoing fiscal year which looks like a sharp turnaround from the deficit of $1.53 billion during the same period last year.

October’s exports rose 11.5 per cent to $3.71 billion compared to $3.33 billion in the same month last year.

This also reflects a 12.6 per cent increase from the $3.3 billion recorded in the previous month. Imports during the month saw a 6.9 per cent rise, reaching $5.56 billion, up from $5.2 billion in October last year. However, on a monthly basis, imports actually dipped by 1 per cent.

As a result, the trade deficit in goods and services decreased by 1.2 per cent year-on-year to $1.85 billion. On a month-on-month basis, the deficit narrowed significantly by 20.4 per cent.

Despite this, the cumulative trade deficit for 4MFY25 rose by 15 per cent, hitting $9.32 billion compared to $8.1 billion in the same period last year.

For the first four months of the fiscal year, exports climbed 8.5 per cent to $13.11 billion, while imports grew by 11.1 per cent to $22.43 billion, both showing growth compared to the previous year.

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