Current account deficit falls to $12m in February

With a sharp decline in the current account deficit (CAD) to $12 million in February from $420m in the preceding month, Pakistan recorded a surplus of $691m in the first eight months of FY25 against a CAD of $1.7bn a year ago, showed data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Monday. The central bank recently said that the current account would be in deficit or surplus by 0.5 per cent of GDP in FY25 compared to a $1.7bn CAD in FY24. The data showed that the increasing imports had widened the trade deficit, which impacted the current account. The imports increased by almost $4bn to $38.32bn in 8MFY25 compared to $34.4bn a year ago. The balance on trade in goods during this period was a deficit of $16.5bn compared to $14bn in the same period of last fiscal year.