Pakistan’s trade deficit widened 17.48% to $34.758 billion in the first 11 months of FY26 as imports increased and exports declined, official data showed on Wednesday.
Pakistan Bureau of Statistics data showed imports rose 5.94% to $62.66 billion during July-May. Exports fell 5.6% to $27.9 billion from $29.56 billion a year earlier.
The monthly goods trade gap narrowed in May 2026, offering some relief. The deficit fell 13.7% year-on-year to $2.58 billion as exports edged up 1.26% to $2.71 billion and imports declined 6.6% to $5.287 billion.
The services account also showed improvement. The services trade deficit narrowed 17.4% to $2.04 billion in July-April FY26 as services exports rose 17.7% to $8.3 billion, outpacing an 8.6% rise in services imports.
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In April alone, the services gap shrank to $26.1 million from $163 million a year earlier. Services exports rose 21.7% to $915 million, while imports fell 2.8%, according to the same data.
Analysts said IT and business services remained among Pakistan’s stronger external-account areas. However, they said the sector’s scale still could not offset the large goods trade imbalance
