US Remains Pakistan’s Top Export Destination in February

ISLAMABAD: The United States remained Pakistan’s leading export destination in February, with shipments totaling $444.6 million—an increase of 4.9% compared to $423.8 million recorded in the same month last year.

According to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), China ranked as the second-largest export market, with Pakistani goods worth $216.01 million sent to the country. This marks a significant 27.8% increase from $169.03 million in February of the previous year.

In January alone, Pakistan’s overall services exports amounted to $691.62 million, marking a 1.51% year-on-year increase. However, some sectors faced declines, with transport services exports dropping by 6.94% to $509 million and travel services shrinking by 3.61% to $427 million. On the other hand, other business services managed a slight growth of 3.20%, totaling $967 million.

Despite the positive trend in Pakistan’s services exports, the trade deficit in this segment widened by 17.27% to $1.929 billion during July-January, compared to $1.645 billion in the same period last year. This was largely due to a 9.15% rise in services imports, which reached $6.678 billion, driven by higher expenditures on transport and travel.