Pakistan’s current account posts $12mn surplus in April 2025

Pakistan’s current account (C/A) posted slight surplus of $12 million in April 2025, against massive surplus of $1.2 billion (revised) last month, data released on Friday by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) showed.

On year-on-year (YoY) basis, the C/A decreased 96% against a surplus of $315 million (revised) recorded in the same month last year.

The decline in the current account surplus comes on the back of a significant increase in the import bill during the period.

“The current account surplus narrowed in April as remittances, a key source of inflows for Pakistan, declined sharply due to normalisation, while the widened trade deficit further strained the external balance,” Waqas Ghani, Head of Research at JS Global, told Business Recorder.

Overall, the figure takes Pakistan’s current account to a surplus of $1.88 billion in the first ten months of the current fiscal year (10MFY25), in stark contrast to a massive deficit of $1.34 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal year.

“We maintain our FY25 current account surplus target of $2.5-3 billion, or 0.6-0.7% of GDP,” said Topline Securities, in a note.

Breakdown

In April 2025, the country’s total export of goods and services amounted to $3.33 billion, up 1.2% as compared to $3.29 billion in the same month of the previous year.

Meanwhile, total imports clocked in at $6.14 billion during April 2025, an increase of 15% on a yearly basis, according to SBP data.

Workers’ remittances clocked in at $3.18 billion in April 2025, an increase of over 13% as compared to the previous year.

Low economic growth, along with high inflation, has helped curtail Pakistan’s current account deficit, with an increase in exports also helping the cause. A high interest rate, which has declined in recent months, and some restrictions on imports have also aided the policymakers’ objective of a narrower current account deficit.