Pakistan recorded a $3.450 billion trade deficit with Gulf partner countries in July and August 2026, up from $3.362 billion in the same two months a year earlier. The 2.61% increase came as exports moved in different directions across major markets: shipments to the United Arab Emirates rose, while exports to Qatar fell and imports from Qatar climbed sharply.
The figures, drawn from the State Bank of Pakistan’s country and regional trade tables, show why the Gulf trade balance needs to be read country by country. Higher imports can reflect demand for energy and other supplies, while exports to the region bring foreign exchange into Pakistan. The aggregate deficit widened modestly, but the underlying movements were uneven.
Exports to the UAE rose as Qatar shipments declined
Pakistan’s exports to the UAE increased 13.6% year over year during July–August. Exports to Qatar fell 16.5%. These rates compare each country’s two-month flow with the same period last year; they are not changes in total Pakistani exports or in the Gulf deficit itself.
The contrast matters for exporters because the Gulf is not one uniform destination. Demand, product mix, logistics and buyer relationships differ from one market to another. A rise in sales to the UAE did not fully offset the fall in shipments to Qatar, though the available headline figures alone do not identify which products drove either change.
Qatar and Saudi Arabia lifted import payments
Imports from Qatar rose 41.9%, while imports from Saudi Arabia increased 14.7%. Those increases help explain the direction of the regional trade gap. They do not, by themselves, show whether the additional imports were concentrated in fuel, industrial inputs or other goods; that requires a closer product-level breakdown.
Trade balances also record gross merchandise flows rather than the full financial relationship. They exclude services and do not measure remittances, investment or financing. Pakistan receives substantial remittances from Gulf economies, but those transfers are recorded separately from exports and imports of goods. A merchandise deficit with the region is therefore not a complete measure of Pakistan’s net economic ties to it.
What the Gulf trade figures mean for Pakistan
The 2.61% rise is a small change in the two-month comparison, but its composition is useful to watch. If imports keep outpacing exports, the merchandise gap can add to foreign-exchange demand. Stronger exports can improve that balance, although two months of data are too short to establish a durable trend.
For businesses, the country splits point to different questions: whether UAE growth continues, what is behind weaker Qatar sales, and which products account for the increase in Qatar and Saudi imports. The next SBP monthly tables will show whether these early-FY27 patterns persist. Readers can also follow the State Bank’s economic data releases and PakFiscal’s article archive for the next update.