Overview
- The State Bank of Pakistan reported on Friday that FY26 ended with a $139 million current account deficit after a $649 million monthly shortfall in June erased earlier surpluses.
- Workers’ remittances reached a record about $41.6 billion in FY26 and were the largest single cushion keeping the full-year gap small.
- Imports climbed to roughly $76.4 billion while exports held near $40.9 billion, widening the merchandise trade deficit and driving most of the current account deterioration.
- SBP foreign-exchange reserves rose to about $18.5–19.7 billion and helped meet obligations even as net foreign direct investment fell to roughly $1.6 billion, reducing the quality of inflows.
- A seven-year high real effective exchange rate and weak FDI mean exports are less competitive and policymakers may face limits on monetary easing if import growth or remittance flows reverse in FY27.