On Thursday, Pakistan’s central bank announced that the nation achieved a historic current account surplus of $1.2 billion in March 2025, indicating a period of economic stability.
Data from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) revealed that this surplus represented a remarkable year-on-year increase of 230 percent compared to the $363 million surplus recorded in March 2024.
The Express Tribune reported that brokerage firms Topline Securities and Arif Habib Limited confirmed that March 2025 witnessed the highest monthly current account surplus in the country’s history.
This strong performance resulted in a total current account surplus of $1.86 billion for the first nine months of FY2024-25, a significant recovery from a $1.65 billion deficit during the same timeframe in the previous fiscal year.
With declining oil prices and record-high remittances, experts anticipate that Pakistan’s current account will continue to show a surplus until June FY25, and potentially into FY26, thereby bolstering overall investor confidence, as stated by Khurram Schehzad, Advisor to the Finance Minister.
In March, exports of goods and services reached $3.51 billion, reflecting an 8.7 percent increase from $3.23 billion in the same month the previous year. Meanwhile, imports rose by 8 percent year-on-year to $5.92 billion.
Workers’ remittances soared to $4.05 billion in March, representing an increase of over 71 percent from the previous year, which played a crucial role in the improvement of the current account.
Analysts attribute the narrowing of the current account deficit to several factors, including low economic growth, persistently high inflation, a stringent monetary policy, and import restrictions, alongside the enhancement of exports, as noted in the report.
