Pakistan's trade deficit widened by about 20 per cent to $3.88 billion in October 2026, as imports grew far faster than exports, according to data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) released on Friday, 6 November.

Exports stood at $2.93 billion during the month, a rise of 2.8 per cent compared with $2.85 billion in October last year. Imports, however, climbed to $6.81 billion, up 11.8 per cent from $6.09 billion a year earlier, leaving a gap of nearly $3.9 billion between what the country bought and what it sold abroad.

Four-month gap widens too

The picture over the first four months of the current fiscal year is similar. Between July and October, the trade deficit reached $14.63 billion, about 16 per cent higher than the $12.61 billion recorded in the same period last year.

Exports over the four months rose 8.5 per cent to $11.34 billion, from $10.45 billion a year earlier. Imports rose more sharply, by 12.6 per cent, to $25.96 billion from $23.06 billion, pushing the cumulative deficit wider.

Why the gap matters

A wider trade deficit means more dollars leave the country to pay for imports than come in from exports. That gap has to be covered by remittances from Pakistanis working abroad, loans and investment. Remittances are Pakistan's largest source of dollar inflows and usually cover a large part of the goods gap, which is why monthly remittance figures matter as much as the trade numbers themselves.

The State Bank of Pakistan publishes current account data a few weeks after the PBS trade figures. That release will show whether October's wider trade gap was offset by remittances, or whether the country's overall external balance slipped into a larger deficit.