Pakistan’s trade deficit soars to $2.75 billion in July

Pakistan’s trade deficit reached $2.75 billion in July 2025, marking a sharp increase of over 44 percent compared to the $1.90 billion deficit recorded in the same month last year. 

According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), exports in July rose by 16.9% compared to last year, reaching $2.7 billion. This was also 8.9% higher than the export figures in June. However, the rise in imports was more significant. Imports jumped 29.3% year-on-year to $5.4 billion in July and increased by 12.4% compared to June. This caused the monthly trade gap to widen to $2.75 billion, up from $1.91 billion in July last year and $2.37 billion in June.

In the full fiscal year 2024-25 so far, the overall trade deficit grew 9.3% to $26.35 billion. Exports stood at $32 billion, marking a 4.5% increase, while imports rose by 6.6% to reach $58.4 billion. PBS also released data on Pakistan’s international trade in services for July to June. The country imported more services than it exported, but the services trade deficit improved slightly.

In FY25, the services trade deficit dropped by 15.84% to $2.62 billion, compared to $3.1 billion in FY24. Pakistan imported services worth $11 billion while exports of services stood at $8.4 billion. In comparison, FY24 saw $10.8 billion in services imports and $7.68 billion in exports. This shows an increase of 9.23% in services exports and 2.01% in imports. Experts say the widening goods trade gap highlights the need to control imports and boost export growth to stabilize the economy.