Pakistan records Rs1.274 trillion fiscal surplus in first quarter
The primary surplus beat the budget target by Rs239 billion, an 8.7 percent improvement, the adviser said.
Pakistan posted a fiscal surplus of Rs1.274 trillion in the first quarter of the current fiscal year, the state broadcaster Radio Pakistan reported on Friday.
Adviser to the Finance Minister Khurram Schehzad said in a post on X that the surplus equals 0.9 percent of gross domestic product.
He said the primary surplus stood at Rs2.974 trillion, or 2.1 percent of GDP, in the same period.
Schehzad said the primary surplus beat the budget target by Rs239 billion, an improvement of 8.7 percent.
He said Pakistan has recorded first-quarter fiscal surpluses for three consecutive fiscal years, ending a run of 23 years of first-quarter deficits from 2002 to 2024.
Schehzad said the fiscal surplus was Rs1.896 trillion in the first quarter of Financial Year 2025 and Rs2.119 trillion in the same period of Financial Year 2026.
He added that the last three years recorded the highest first-quarter primary surpluses in 26 years, each exceeding Rs2.9 trillion.
Looking at the full Financial Year 2026, Schehzad said the fiscal deficit was 2.6 percent of GDP, the lowest in 22 years.
He said the primary surplus reached 2.9 percent of GDP, the highest since at least Financial Year 2001, while interest expenditure fell 22 percent.
Schehzad said tax collections in the first quarter exceeded the target despite tax relief measures in the Financial Year 2027 budget, while government expenditure remained rationalized.
He said Pakistan's fiscal performance is increasingly defined by sustained financial discipline rather than isolated improvements.
