KARACHI: Pakistan’s current account deficit fell to $0.4 billion in December 2022 from $1.9 billion a year earlier, the central bank said on Wednesday, as the cash-strapped government slashed imports in a bid to avert an external payments crisis.
Foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank stand at $4.3 billion – enough cover for just three weeks of imports – and the country’s International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout program has been stalled for months.
December’s figures mean Pakistan has brought its current account deficit for the first half of the financial year that began in July 2022 down to $3.7 billion from over $9 billion in the corresponding period in the previous financial year, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said.
Pakistan has looked to curb imports to reduce external financing needs. The economy has witnessed a sharp slowdown in the face of a financial crisis, compounded by devastating floods last year that inflicted billions of dollars of damage.
Expected external financing inflows have slowed as the country struggles to implement economic reforms under the IMF program it entered in 2019. The World Bank has also delayed the approval of two loans worth $1.1 billion.
“Machinery imports are low due to a slowdown in overall economic activities, curbs by SBP on the import of plant and machinery, higher interest rates, and uncertainty with respect to the IMF program,” Tahir Abbas from Karachi-based brokerage firm Arif Habib Limited told Reuters.
He said the trade balance had improved but there was a drop in remittances that meant the current account deficit had increased from November 2022, while interest payments and dividend repatriation also played a role.
Fahad Rauf at Ismail Iqbal Securities played down the improving trade deficit.
“There is no choice and no one can take credit for this. We are not shopping because we don’t have money. And no one is lending,” he said.
Central bank says Pakistan’s current account deficit fell to $0.4 billion in December
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Central bank says Pakistan’s current account deficit fell to $0.4 billion in December
- Pakistan has looked to curb imports to reduce external financing needs with economy witnessing a slowdown
- Amid the country’s economic woes, the World Bank has delayed the approval of two loans worth $1.1 billion
Security forces kill four militants in Pakistan’s volatile southwest, military says
- Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province by land area bordering Iran and Afghanistan, has long been the site of a low-level insurgency
- The Balochistan government has recently established a threat assessment center to strengthen early warning, prevent ‘terrorism’ incidents
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani security forces gunned down four militants in an intelligence-based operation in the southwestern Balochistan province, the military said on Tuesday.
The operation was conducted in Balochistan’s Kalat district on reports about the presence of militants, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the Pakistani military’s media wing.
The “Indian-sponsored militants” were killed in an exchange of fire during the operation, while weapons and ammunition were also recovered from the deceased, who remained actively involved in numerous militant activities.
“Sanitization operations are being conducted to eliminate any other Indian-sponsored terrorist found in the area,” the ISPR said in a statement.
There was no immediate response from New Delhi to the statement.
Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province by land area bordering Iran and Afghanistan, has long been the site of a low-level insurgency involving Baloch separatist groups, including the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and the Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF).
Pakistan accuses India of supporting these separatist militant groups and describes them as “Fitna Al-Hindustan.” New Delhi denies the allegation.
The government in Balochistan has also established a state-of-the-art threat assessment center to strengthen early warning and prevention against “terrorism” incidents, a senior official said this week.
“Information that was once scattered is now shared and acted upon in time, allowing the state to move from reacting after incidents to preventing them before they occur,” Balochistan Additional Chief Secretary Hamza Shafqaat wrote on X.
The development follows a steep rise in militancy-related deaths in Pakistan in 2025. According to statistics released by the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS) last month, combat-related deaths in 2025 rose 73 percent to 3,387.
These included 2,115 militants, 664 security forces personnel, 580 civilians and 28 members of pro-government peace committees, the think tank said.
