Countries · Asia
Pakistan
Pakistan relies on remittances and support from the IMF and friendly governments to finance its imports.
At a glance
Net inflows of foreign direct investment were $1.85bn in 2025, against an average of $2.11bn a year in 2015–2024. Investors based in Pakistan put a net $0.27bn into direct investment abroad in the same year, less than Pakistan received. Foreign investors were net sellers of $0.36bn of shares in Pakistan in 2025. Money sent home by workers abroad came to $40.5bn in 2025, equal to 9.9% of GDP.
Remittances reached $40.5bn in 2025, more than 20 times direct investment that year. Low reserves led to repeated balance of payments crises, most recently in 2022–2023.
Direct and equity investment
Annual net flows, $bn. Direct investment means building or buying businesses; portfolio equity means buying listed shares and fund units.
Net flows by year
Direct investment into and out of Pakistan, and foreign buying of its shares, $bn.
Current account and reserves
The balance of trade and income with the rest of the world, and the reserves held by the central bank.
Current account balance
Each year, $bn. A surplus means the country lends to the rest of the world.
Foreign exchange reserves, including gold
End of year, $bn.
Remittances
Money sent home by people working abroad, compared with direct investment, $bn.
Remittances and direct investment
Each year, $bn.
The economy
GDP
Current US dollars, $bn. Dollar figures also move with exchange rates.
Growth and inflation
Real GDP growth and consumer price inflation, per cent.
All figures
Annual figures from the World Bank, as published. Download them for every country on the data page.
| Indicator | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Population (m) | 217.29 | 220.14 | 223.27 | 226.93 | 230.80 | 235.00 | 239.48 | 243.70 | 247.50 | 251.27 | 255.22 |
| GDP ($bn) | 300.0 | 313.6 | 339.2 | 356.1 | 320.9 | 300.4 | 348.5 | 374.9 | 336.7 | 371.7 | 407.3 |
| GDP per person ($) | 1,380 | 1,425 | 1,519 | 1,569 | 1,390 | 1,278 | 1,455 | 1,538 | 1,360 | 1,479 | 1,596 |
| Real GDP growth (%) | 4.2 | 6.6 | 4.4 | 6.2 | 2.5 | −1.3 | 6.5 | 4.8 | −0.4 | 3.1 | 3.7 |
| Inflation (%) | 2.5 | 3.8 | 4.1 | 5.1 | 10.6 | 9.7 | 9.5 | 19.9 | 30.8 | 12.6 | 3.5 |
| Current account ($bn) | −2.80 | −7.19 | −16.18 | −18.86 | −8.56 | −0.65 | −12.28 | −12.22 | −1.04 | 0.46 | −0.45 |
| Current account (% GDP) | −0.9 | −2.3 | −4.8 | −5.3 | −2.7 | −0.2 | −3.5 | −3.3 | −0.3 | 0.1 | −0.1 |
| Reserves incl. gold ($bn) | 20.0 | 22.0 | 18.5 | 11.8 | 16.6 | 18.5 | 22.8 | 9.9 | 13.7 | 18.4 | 26.5 |
| Direct investment in ($bn) | 1.67 | 2.58 | 2.50 | 1.74 | 2.23 | 2.06 | 2.15 | 1.46 | 2.05 | 2.67 | 1.85 |
| Direct investment out ($bn) | 0.03 | 0.05 | 0.05 | −0.02 | −0.09 | −0.04 | 0.24 | 1.16 | 0.03 | 0.08 | 0.27 |
| Portfolio equity in ($bn) | 0.53 | −0.34 | −0.39 | −0.53 | 0.02 | −0.54 | −0.36 | −0.09 | 0.07 | −0.17 | −0.36 |
| Remittances ($bn) | 19.31 | 19.82 | 19.86 | 21.19 | 22.25 | 26.09 | 31.31 | 30.18 | 26.56 | 34.91 | 40.48 |
The monthly read
A short email after each TIC release: where money moved, what changed among the big holders, and the charts that matter.
Sign-up and emails are handled by Substack.