ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s trade deficit with nine neighbouring countries widened by 34.64 per cent, reaching $9.787 billion in the first ten months of the current fiscal year (FY25), compared to $7.269 billion during the same period last year.
Exports witnessed significant growth to Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, spurred by recent changes in the regional political landscape. However, trade with these countries continues to face considerable challenges, largely due to unfavourable government policies.
Despite this positive development in exports, the overall trade gap with regional countries widened, primarily due to increased imports from China, India and Bangladesh during the period under review.
In FY24, the trade deficit with these countries stood at $9.506bn, up 49pc from $6.382bn in the preceding year.
Pakistan’s exports to Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka saw a hefty growth in July-April FY25. Still, exports to other countries, especially China, continued to decline during the period, according to data compiled by the State Bank of Pakistan.
The value of Pakistan’s exports to nine countries — Afghanistan, China, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India, Iran, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives — rose 2.37pc to $3.743bn in July-April FY25 from $3.656bn over the same period last year.
Contrary to this, imports surged 23.84pc to $13.530bn in 10MFY25 from $10.925bn over the same period of the previous fiscal year.
Further analysis showed that imports from China grew by 23.87pc to $13.191bn in 10MFY25 from $10.649bn over the same period last year. In FY24, imports from China stood at $13.506bn, up by 39.78pc from $9.662bn over the previous year. The bulk of imports in the region are sourced from China, followed partially by India and Bangladesh.
Pakistan’s exports to China dipped 11.65pc to $2.070bn in 10MFY25 from $2.343bn over the same months in the preceding fiscal year.