KARACHI: Pakistan's trade deficit widened by nearly 20% to $3.88 billion in October 2026 compared with the same month a year earlier, data released Friday by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) showed.
The country's trade balance, the gap between exports and imports, stood at a deficit of $3.24 billion in October 2025.
The year-on-year expansion was driven by higher imports and sluggish export growth.
Exports in October 2026 totaled $2.93 billion, up 2.8% from $2.85 billion in October 2025. Imports rose nearly 12% to $6.81 billion from $6.09 billion in the same period last year.
On a month-on-month basis, the trade deficit increased more than 10% in October 2026 from $3.52 billion in September 2026, as imports climbed while exports remained flat.
During the first four months of fiscal year 2026-27, the trade deficit widened by nearly 16% to $14.63 billion from $12.61 billion in the same period a year earlier. Imports rose more than 12% to $25.96 billion from $23.06 billion, while exports increased more than 8% to $11.34 billion from $10.45 billion.
Pakistan relies heavily on imports of fuel, machinery, chemicals and food, with petroleum products accounting for a large share of the import bill and straining foreign exchange reserves. Automobile imports have also surged.
The country's exports remain largely consumer-based and traditional, including rice, raw cotton, textiles and leather, and its manufacturing sector is skewed toward low-value-added products. Exports have been hurt by high energy tariffs, rising taxation, expensive financing, policy uncertainty and declining competitiveness.
