Current account posts surplus of $479m in Feb

KARACHI: The country’s current account has recorded a surplus of $479 million in February, leading to a substantial decrease in the current account deficit for the ongoing fiscal year. According to details shared by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Monday, the country’s current account has posted a surplus in the first two months of the calendar year 2026, after recording a deficit of $244m in December 2025.

In the first two quarters of FY26, the current account was in deficit against a $1.9 billion surplus recorded in FY25. The current account deficit — which has been a long-standing issue facing Pakistan’s economy — has been addressed by a significant reduction in imports, which has resulted in a surplus. But, low imports have affected the gross domestic product (GDP) growth as it hardly reached 3 per cent in FY25. In the first quarter of FY26, from July to Sept 2025, the current account deficit was $737m, while in the second quarter, from October to December 2025, the deficit was recorded at $458m. But, the trend seems to be changing in the third quarter so far, as the current account posted a surplus of $85m in January and $479m in February. However, financial experts believe it would be hard to reduce imports that directly impact the current account. The oil price in the international market has gone up by almost 80 per cent, and it may increase further if the Middle East war continues for another couple of weeks. The SBP data showed that imports of goods between July and Feb increased by $3.38 billion to $41.823bn from $36.433bn during the same period of the last fiscal year. As for the export and import of services, both increased by $1bn and $1.1bn, respectively. Market sources said the SBP’s pre-war data does not reflect the impact of the war, which started on Feb 28.