Southern Asia · GDP rank #33

Pakistan

PK · PKR @ 0.0036/USD

Tab 04

Economics

The macro backdrop that actually bends payment behaviour. Nominal GDP, real growth, CPI, policy rate, and FX volatility set the backdrop; interchange, MDR, FX regime, and capital-control posture set the industry-specific dynamics.

SBP hiked policy rate 100bp to 11.5% on 27 April 2026 — first hike since June 2023 — as Mid-East-driven energy inflation pushed CPI through the central bank's 5-7% band. IMF EFF disbursements continued through Q1 2026.

Nominal GDP

$385B

Real GDP growth

3.4%

CPI inflation

7.3%

Policy rate

11.5%

Unemployment

8.2%

30-day FX volatility

0.6%

Remittance inflows

$32.5B

Remittance outflows

$0.15B

FX posture

How the currency is managed

The FX regime and capital-control posture together determine how much of cross-border flow is priced against the interbank and how much is administratively steered.

FX regime: market-determined since June 2023; SBP intervenes only to smooth
Capital controls: material — outbound FX requires SBP approval; Roshan Digital Accounts provide a supervised non-resident channel

30-day currency volatility

0.0%benchmark 2.5%0.6%

Scale 0-15%. Benchmark 2.5% marks the approximate median across G10 majors.