KARACHI: Pakistan’s trade deficit with Gulf nations widened by 14 percent to $12.4 billion in the outgoing fiscal year through May, even as the country pushes for a free trade agreement (FTA) with the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to boost exports and market access, official statistics show.
The trade gap stood at $10.9 billion during the same period last year, according to data from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). Pakistan’s exports to the region grew to $5.08 billion — up 16 percent — while imports rose 14 percent to $17.5 billion.
The GCC includes Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain.
Shankar Talreja, director of research at Topline Securities, attributed the widening trade imbalance primarily to surging imports from the UAE, Pakistan’s largest oil supplier in the bloc.
“Pakistan’s imports from the UAE have increased by 32 percent in 11MFY25,” Talreja told Arab News from Karachi. “This is a whopping increase of $1.5 billion.”
