Digging deeper into deficit

Pakistan’s trade deficit widened by 17.48% year-on-year to $34.76 billion in the first 11 months of FY26, driven by a 5.94% rise in imports to $62.66 billion and a 5.61% decline in exports to $27.91 billion. Structural issues, including heavy reliance on energy imports and a narrow export base dominated by textiles, perpetuate the imbalance, with energy imports alone surging 13.7% to $14.9 billion.