Pakistan’s long-neglected services trade is quietly outperforming its traditional mainstay. According to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), services exports rose by $406m, or about 29% year on year, to $1.811bn in July-August of the 2026-27 fiscal year, up from $1.405bn a year earlier. Goods shipments did far less: they increased by roughly $217m to $5.455bn, from $5.238bn. Imports, meanwhile, are expanding faster than overseas sales, which leaves the country’s external accounts under familiar strain.
Information technology (IT) and freelancing drove the services surge, bringing in about $952m over the two months. Next came other business services, a broad category that includes research and development, management and professional consultancy, legal and accounting work, advertising and public relations, market research and polling, and architectural, engineering and scientific services. Government services, mainly consular and military, contributed around $122m.
Smaller segments remain modest. Recreational and cultural services earned about $18.5m during the period, and financial services roughly $13m. Experts said the sector has considerable room to grow, especially in IT and business services, provided policy stays consistent and the business environment remains supportive. They also urged more attention to these minor categories to diversify the country’s services export base.
Industry leaders are optimistic but want more done. Muhammad Zohaib Khan, a former chairman of the Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA), said government incentives and marketing initiatives were paying off, though several obstacles still need clearing. In his view, steady policies and closer cooperation among stakeholders could lift monthly IT inflows from about $420m to $450m. That would support the government’s goal, under the Uraan Pakistan plan, of $10bn in annual IT exports by FY29.
Ibrahim Amin, chairman of the Pakistan Freelancers Association (PAFLA), stressed the growing weight of freelancers in the country’s foreign-exchange earnings. He estimated that about 3m Pakistanis work through freelancing platforms and social media, yet few know about the government incentives available to them. Freelancing, he argued, lets students and young people acquire marketable skills, raise their incomes and earn hard currency. His association recently held a ceremony honouring top performers to encourage newcomers.
Trade with Britain also improved. The SBP reported that Pakistan’s goods and services exports to the United Kingdom rose by 8.42% year on year to $220.26m in July 2026, the first month of the fiscal year. Compared with June’s $188.44m, they climbed by 16.88%. Exports to other countries rose by 9.38% over the same month, from $2.750bn to $3.008bn.
Measured in rupees, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) recorded more modest progress. Its provisional data show exports of Rs1.526trn in July-August, up 5.58% from Rs1.446trn a year earlier. August earnings of Rs705.9bn were 3.32% higher than in August 2025 but fell well short of July’s Rs820.6bn. Textiles still dominate: August’s leading items were knitwear (Rs130.7bn), readymade garments (Rs101.9bn), bed wear (Rs70.8bn) and cotton cloth (Rs37.4bn). These were followed by non-basmati rice, cotton yarn, basmati, towels, other made-up articles and meat.
The import side is less comforting. Purchases from abroad reached Rs3.546trn over the two months, 12.43% more than the Rs3.154trn recorded a year before and more than double the value of exports. August imports of Rs1.626trn fell by 15.33% from July’s Rs1.920trn but were 8.75% above August 2025’s level. Energy topped the bill: crude oil cost Rs201.2bn and petroleum products Rs132.9bn. Electrical machinery, palm oil, plastics, iron and steel scrap, liquefied natural gas, iron and steel, raw cotton and car kits made up the rest of the list.
The overall picture is mixed. Services, led by a growing class of programmers and freelancers, are becoming a dependable source of foreign earnings. But merchandise exports are growing slowly and imports are rising faster, so the trade gap continues to widen. Unless policymakers maintain consistent policies and broaden the export base, the gains from Pakistan’s digital workforce risk being absorbed by the import bill.