Pakistan's goods trade deficit increased by 10.4 per cent in August 2026 over the same month a year ago, as imports increased at over double the pace of exports, official data showed on Thursday. Exports climbed 3.8 per cent year-on-year to $2.51 billion in August, down 15.1 per cent from July 2026, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
Imports, however, surged 7.4 per cent from a year earlier to $5.68 billion, registering a 17.7 per cent decline against the $6.9 billion recorded in the previous month. This swelled the monthly trade gap in August 2026 to $3.17 billion from $2.87 billion a year earlier and $3.95 billion in July 2026. In the first two months of FY27, the trade deficit increased 18.1 per cent to $7.12 billion against $6.025 billion last year.
During this period, exports increased 7.04 per cent to $5.46 billion and imports went up by 13 per cent to $12.575 billion against the same period of last year. For the fiscal year 2025-26, the overall trade deficit grew 21.57 per cent to $39.47 billion, as exports fell 5.97 per cent to $30.13 billion while imports climbed 7.9 per cent to $69.6 billion.
The PBS also reported the services trade performance for July 2026, showing that the trade deficit in services witnessed a decline of 24.85 per cent, reaching $228.6 million compared to $304.2 million in July 2025. In full FY26, services trade deficit decreased by 33.38 per cent to $1.89 billion compared to $2.84 billion in FY25.