Key Takeaways
- FPCCI President Atif Ikram Sheikh warns of a balance of payments crisis due to rising import costs.
- Trade deficit widened by 15.13% to USD 10.792 billion in Q1 FY27, up from USD 9.374 billion in Q1 FY26.
- FPCCI urges reduction in policy rates and rationalisation of electricity tariffs to mitigate economic pressures.
Atif Ikram Sheikh, President of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI), has issued a stark warning that the continuous rise in import costs is posing a significant threat to Pakistan’s economic stability.
According to the latest official figures released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), the trade deficit has widened by 15.13% to reach USD 10.792 billion during the July-September 2026 period, up from USD 9.374 billion in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year.
Sheikh highlighted that this trend persisted through the end of the quarter, with the trade deficit in September 2026 alone rising to USD 3.55 billion, a 6.15% year-on-year increase from the USD 3.35 billion recorded in September 2025.
The FPCCI chief attributed the widening trade gap to the high cost of doing business in Pakistan, which severely hampers the competitiveness of local manufacturers against regional peers.
Sheikh noted that prohibitive interest rates, massive capacity charges on electricity, and elevated petroleum levies act as significant barriers to industrial productivity and value addition.
To rescue the FY27 export targets and prevent widespread industrial stagnation, the FPCCI leadership urged the Ministry of Finance and the State Bank of Pakistan to aggressively reduce the policy rate to single digits in order to provide affordable working capital to manufacturers.
Furthermore, Atif Ikram Sheikh called for the immediate rationalisation of electricity and gas tariffs to align them with regional competitors, alongside targeted relief on inland logistics to bring down domestic supply chain costs.
The FPCCI President stressed that without immediate structural interventions, the continuous pivot to expensive imports to meet domestic demand will further exhaust the national exchequer and trigger a severe balance of payments crisis.
