Pakistan's current account shows surplus for second consecutive month

Pakistan's current account showed a surplus for the second month in a row, thanks to higher exports and remittances. This is the highest surplus since April 2024.

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) reported on Monday that the current account had a surplus of $119 million in the last month, compared to a deficit of $218 million in September 2024.

In the first quarter of the current fiscal year, the current account had a small deficit of $98 million. This is a big improvement from the same quarter last year, which had a deficit of $1.241 billion. This quarter's deficit is the lowest in four years, since the July to September 2020 quarter.

Remittances showed significant gains, with a $2.455 billion increase in the first quarter, reaching $8.787 billion. Exports also increased by nearly $544 million, totaling $7.496 billion for the quarter.

For the year ending June 30, 2024, remittances were around $30.251 billion and exports were about $30.976 billion.

The State Bank of Pakistan and the IMF predict that the current account deficit for this fiscal year might be around 1% of GDP. They also expect the economy to grow by 3.5%, up from 2.24% last year.