Trade deficit with nine states widens

Pakistan’s trade deficit with nine neighbouring countries surged by 40.42 per cent to $6.379 billion during the first seven months of FY25 from $4.543bn a year ago. The trade gap with the regional countries widened mainly due to higher imports from China, India and Bangladesh. In contrast to last year, exports to Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka increased unusually in July-January FY25. This growth has largely offset the decline in exports to China. In FY24, the trade deficit with these countries was $9.506bn, up 49pc from $6.382bn in the preceding year. The value of Pakistan’s exports to nine countries — Afghanistan, China, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India, Iran, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives — rose 5.91pc to $2.763bn in July-January FY25 from $2.609bn over the same period last year.