ISLAMABAD: The Federal Ministry of Fiance and Revenue on Friday said that the country’s external sector shows increasing trade activity and remittance inflows in the months of November Fiscal Year, 2025-26.
According to the “Monthly Economic Update and Outlook November 2025” issued by Federal Ministry of Finance and Revenue, the current account posted a deficit of $733 million during Jul-Oct FY2026, increasing from a deficit of $206 million recorded last year.
Goods exports rose by 2.0 percent to $10.6 billion, while imports increased by 9.6 percent to $20.7 billion, resulting in a trade deficit of $10.1 billion compared to $8.5 billion last year, the report said.
According to official report, gains in key exports were observed in knitwear (8.2%), garments (5.1%), and bedwear (6.9%). Increases in major imports were recorded in petroleum crude (13.5%), petroleum products (10.5%) and palm oil (29.4%).
Service exports grew by 15.9 percent to $3.0 billion; imports increased by 12.0 percent to $4.2 billion, with a service trade deficit of $1.2 billion against $1.1 billion last year. IT exports were up by 19.6 percent to $1.4 billion.
The Ministry of Finance said that Remittances surged by 9.3 percent to $13.0 billion, led by inflows from Saudi Arabia (24.2% share) and UAE (20.7%). Net FDI inflows declined, recording at $747.7million.
Main sources of inflow were China ($226.7 million) and Hong Kong ($120.1 million). Sector-wise, power ($297.0 million) and financial services ($259.8 million) attracted the most FDI.
Private and public FPI recorded net outflows of $159.7 million and $378.8 million, respectively. As of November 14, 2025, foreign exchange reserves stood at $19.7 billion, including $14.6 billion with SBP and higher remittances and expanding LSM sector and IT exports further strengthen the economic outlook.
According to data issued, Pakistan’s economy is progressing on a path of gradual stabilization with early gains from operationalized structural reforms and key indicators are showing improvement as fiscal discipline is maintained through stronger revenue mobilization and prudent expenditure management.
According to the report, Public debt has declined by over Rs. 1,371 billion, marking the first quarterly reduction in more than five years and this decline reflects strategic use of surplus funds for early retirement of costly debt, thereby reducing refinancing and rollover risks and strengthening macroeconomic stability.
According to the Federal Committee on Agriculture (FCA) meeting held on 23rd October 2025, sugarcane production estimates for the year 2025-26 witnessed an increase of 0.6 percent to 84.74 million tonnes from 84.24 million tonnes last year despite floods. Cotton output is estimated at 6.85 million bales, down 3.3 percent from 7.08 million bales.
Similarly, rice production declined by 3.2 percent to 9.41 million tonnes from 9.72 million tonnes and maize production by 6.7 percent to 8.43 million tonnes from 9.03 million tonnes last year. However, mung and chillies production increased by 14.9 and 0.5 percent to 150.8 and 114.4 thousand tonnes, respectively, from last year.
The FCA has fixed wheat production target for Rabi 2025-26 at 29.68 million tonnes from an area of 9.65 million hectares based on satisfactory input situation. During Jul-Oct FY2026, agricultural credit disbursement jumped by 18.6 percent to Rs. 845.3 billion from Rs. 712.8 billion last year. The imports of agricultural machinery & implements increased by 23.5 percent to $49.3 million during Jul-Oct FY2026 from $39.9 million last year, the report said.
According to the official documents LSM is Recovering across Sub-Sectors, the large-Scale Manufacturing (LSM) registered a growth of 4.1 percent during Jul-Sep FY2026 with 15 sectors recording positive growth, including textile, wearing apparel, non-metallic mineral products, food, coke & petroleum products, electrical equipment, automobile and tobacco.
In September 2025, LSM grew by 2.7 percent on year-on-year (YoY) basis and by 2.1 percent on a month-on-month (MoM) basis. During Jul-Oct FY2026, the performance of the automobile sector remained encouraging, supported by a substantial increase in the production of cars (70.9%), trucks & buses (96.9%), and jeeps & pick-ups (42.2%).
Similarly, cumulative cement dispatches reached 17.3 million tonnes, up 15.5 percent during Jul-Oct, FY2026. Domestic dispatches totaled 13.9 million tonnes with 18.1 percent YoY increase, while exports rose by 6.0 percent to 3.42 million tones and this signifies economy to achieve the targeted growth.
According to the data, continued fiscal Consolidation efforts result in fiscal and primary Surplus and during Jul-Sep FY2026, net federal revenues increased by 2.4 percent to Rs. 4,117.5 billion, compared to Rs. 4019.5 billion last year.
During Jul-Oct FY2026, FBR’s tax collection rose to Rs. 3,834.9 billion, up by 11.4 percent and on the expenditure side, total outlays increased by 11.9 percent during Jul-Sep FY2026 to Rs. 2,779.3 billion.
Consequently, the federal fiscal balance recorded a second time surplus of Rs. 1,338.2 billion, compared to a surplus of Rs. 1,536.3 billion last year and the primary balance also improved; posting a surplus of Rs. 3,497.3 billion, up from Rs. 3,202.4 billion in the corresponding period, the report said.
