Pakistanis abroad now send home more than Pakistan exports
Workers' remittances vs all goods and services exports, US$ billion, fiscal years July–June, 2015/16 to 2025/26.
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Remittances Pakistan received in 2025/26, more than double the $19.9 bn of 2015/16.
All its goods and services exports in 2025/26: the first year since at least 2013/14 that they earned less than remittances.
Goods exports in 2025/26, down from $32.3 bn a year earlier, while remittances rose 9%.
the numbers & method
| Exports (bn) | Remittances (bn) | |
|---|---|---|
| 2025/26 | 40.9 | 41.6 |
| 2024/25 | 40.8 | 38.3 |
| 2023/24 | 38.7 | 30.3 |
| 2022/23 | 35.5 | 27.3 |
| 2021/22 | 39.6 | 31.3 |
| 2020/21 | 31.6 | 29.5 |
| 2019/20 | 28.0 | 23.1 |
| 2018/19 | 30.2 | 21.7 |
| 2017/18 | 30.6 | 19.9 |
| 2016/17 | 27.9 | 19.4 |
| 2015/16 | 27.4 | 19.9 |
Claim types Fact
State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Summary Balance of Payments as per BPM6 (September 2026 edition) and SBP EasyData monthly series (workers' remittances; exports of goods FOB; exports of services), read through the progrss vault copy of EasyData and checked against the SBP summary PDF for 2024/25 and 2025/26. Fiscal years July–June, US$ million. Remittances | goods | services: 2013/14 15,837 | 25,078 | 5,345; 2014/15 18,721 | 24,090 | 5,872; 2015/16 19,917 | 21,972 | 5,456; 2016/17 19,351 | 22,003 | 5,915; 2017/18 19,914 | 24,768 | 5,851; 2018/19 21,740 | 24,257 | 5,966; 2019/20 23,131 | 22,536 | 5,437; 2020/21 29,450 | 25,639 | 5,945; 2021/22 31,279 | 32,493 | 7,102; 2022/23 27,333 | 27,876 | 7,596; 2023/24 30,251 | 30,980 | 7,691; 2024/25 38,300 | 32,343 | 8,450; 2025/26 (revised) 41,585 | 30,836 | 10,047. Exports on the chart are goods plus services (progrss sum). The 2025/26 lead is narrow (1.7%); in July–September 2026 remittances (10,875) were still below goods and services exports (11,173), July–September is seasonally weak for remittances, and that gap narrowed from 531 m in 2025/26 to 298 m in 2026/27. Remittances alone have exceeded goods exports in 2019/20, 2020/21, 2024/25 and 2025/26. Sums, ratios and percent changes are progrss calculations.
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