Abdul Ghani

Pakistan’s external sector showed improved performance in July 2025, with exports, remittances, and IT services posting strong growth, according to the Ministry of Finance’s Monthly Economic Update and Outlook for August 2025, exclusively available with Wealth Pakistan.

The report reveals that exports rose 16.2% year-on-year to $2.7 billion, led by gains in knitwear, garments, and bedwear. Imports increased 11.8% to $5.4 billion, mainly petroleum, crude oil, and palm oil, leading to a trade deficit of $2.7 billion.

Services exports increased 18.1% to $745 million, while services imports fell 0.7% to $871 million, narrowing the services trade deficit to $126 million from $246 million a year earlier.

Worker remittances grew 7.4% to $3.2 billion, while IT exports climbed 23.8% to $354.6 million. FDI rose 6.9% to $208.1 million, with inflows into power and financial services.

The current account deficit narrowed to $254 million from $348 million last year. Foreign exchange reserves stood at $19.6 billion by mid-August.

Prominent economist Dr Abdul Jalil, speaking to Wealth Pakistan, highlighted that the external sector's performance has seen notable improvement, primarily driven by robust exports and consistent remittance inflows.

He emphasized that these factors are playing a critical role in stabilizing the country's economic outlook, providing much-needed support to the overall financial system and contributing to the strengthening of foreign exchange reserves.

Credit: INP-WealthPk