Pakistan reported a trade data discrepancy exceeding $18 billion to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The figures cover the fiscal years spanning 2020-21 through 2024-25.
The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) investigated differences between data collected via the Pakistan Single Window (PSW) and the Pakistan Revenue Auto Lettering (PRAL). A report regarding the transition between these two data sources was submitted by the PBS to the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Planning.
Annual discrepancies were recorded at $1.4 billion for FY2020-21, $2.527 billion for FY2021-22, and $2.402 billion for FY2022-23. The gap widened significantly to $5.572 billion in FY2023-24 and reached $6.224 billion for FY2024-25.
In 2025, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) established a committee to examine inconsistencies in bilateral trade figures with China. The committee discovered that import data produced through the WeBOC system had not received comprehensive updates since 2017.
Consultative workshops were conducted by the PBS during June and July 2025. The finance minister appointed a committee to review the shift from PRAL-based reporting to PSW data.
This committee compared 15 Goods Declaration categories under the PSW data against 7 categories under the PRAL-based data. Analysis showed that the facilitation scheme category was the primary cause of the growing discrepancy.
The government stated the discrepancy has been identified and reconciled.
