Pakistan posts $729m current account surplus in November 2024

ISLAMABAD: The country’s economy achieved a record current account surplus of 729 million dollars (72 crore and 90 lakh dollars) in November, marking the second-largest surplus since July 2013, ARY News reported.

The improvement in the current account surplus is attributed to the contributions of the Special Investment Facilitation Council and an increase in foreign exchange reserves.

For the first five months of the current financial year, the current account surplus is nearing one billion dollars. Additionally, the economy has seen a rise in remittances, driven by a crackdown on illegal currency trading.

Total remittances are expected to reach 35 billion dollars in the fiscal year 2025.

Moreover, there has been an increase of one billion dollars in exports, with the exports of services reaching 3.276 billion dollars.

In October 2024, Pakistan’s current account balance showed a surplus of US$349 million.

Also read: Gold rates witness drop in Pakistan

Pakistan’s current account has posted a surplus for the third consecutive month driven by robust growth in remittances and exports.

The current account posted a deficit of $287 million in October 2023, the SBP reported.

In the first four months of the previous fiscal year, the current account deficit stood at $1.528 billion, highlighting a notable improvement in the country’s external financial position.

During October, total exports rose by 11.5% to $3.71bn compared to $3.33bn in the same month of last year. While it rose 12.6% as against the exports of $3.3bn in the previous month.

Total imports rose 6.9% to $5.56bn as compared to the imports worth $5.2bn recorded in October of last year. Compared to the previous month, imports fell 1.0%.