Pakistan Regional Exports Increased 62%

Pakistan is rising its trade regionally in 2024.

There has been a shift in Pakistan's trade since 2018, due to Pakistan being on the brink of default, and major devaluation of the Pak rupee needed to occur due to Pakistan's extremely high CAD (current account deficit) of USD 19 billion. It forced Pakistan to take major steps in 2018, and major reforms were implemented for the Pakistani rupee. Moreover, going towards a flexible exchange rate and a major shift from a pegged exchange rate, which means that market forces now determine the value of the Pakistani rupee.

Because of reforms implemented in 2018, the biggest advantage Pakistan witnessed was consumers reducing import consumption, which helped to reduce imports from western countries. Therefore, Pakistan's trade shifted towards Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Afghanistan.

Flexible exchange also helped Pakistan to increase its remittance, and another reason was the strong and committed FATF (Final Action Task Force) action plan, which was based on a 34-point action plan reform, and Pakistan completed in October 2022.

 Pakistan trades with Bangladesh.

There has been a surprise increase of trade with Bangladesh this FY 2025, while Pakistan's exports to Bangladesh have increased to nearly 30% of exports worth USD 314 million from July to Nov this fiscal year; surprisingly, Bangladesh's exports to Pakistan are only USD 30.74K.

It means that Bangladesh has reduced its imports from India and increased its imports from Pakistan because of better pricing, allowing a fair market, and recent changes in the Bangladesh political system, which resulted in a collapse of the Hasina Wajid government.

Bangladesh has been looking towards other markets since the change in the government and not putting all their eggs in India's basket. These are welcome figures, and we hope that Pakistan's exports to Bangladesh increase further.

Pakistan trades with Afghanistan.

Another surprise is that Pakistan's exports are also increasing in Afghanistan. This fiscal year, Pakistan's exports to Afghanistan increased nearly 73%, and it was worth USD 406.67 million of FY 2025, July to Nov. There has been tension going on between Pakistan and Afghanistan since the withdrawal of the USA in August 2021, but it did not impact Pakistan's trade with Afghanistan, and the exports are increasing.

It can be said that exports to Afghanistan are increasing because of steps taken by the State Bank of Pakistan that require very strict documents and government strict border checks, so that there could be a reduction of smuggling from Pakistan to Afghanistan and trade would be more documented than before. Moreover, due to that, reforms now in Pakistan are witnessing a surge in their exports to Afghanistan.

Afghanistan also exported their products to Pakistan, which was worth USD 8.5K. If this trend continues, then we can expect that Pakistan's exports can surge to USD 1 billion at the end of the fiscal year.

Pakistan trades with Sri Lanka.

Pakistan's relationship with Sri Lanka has always been stable, no matter which government is formed, and Sri Lanka stood by Pakistan's side without jeopardizing its diplomatic relationship with other countries. Moreover, Pakistan's exports increased to 25% this fiscal year, 2025, from July to November, worth USD 183.89 million. Sri Lanka's exports to Pakistan stood at USD 25.72K.