# The World Bank API for Pakistan data

Ask for "a Pakistan economic data API" and you'll often be pointed at the World Bank's API. It's free, keyless and easy:

```
https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/pak/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD?format=json
```

It's a good API. It just answers a different question than most Pakistan-focused projects are asking.

## What it's good at

- **Cross-country comparison:** the same indicator code for every country, ideal for global dashboards and development research.
- **Long annual history** for headline indicators such as GDP, population, trade as a share of GDP and poverty.
- **No key, no signup.**

## What it doesn't have for Pakistan

The World Bank publishes mostly **annual, harmonized headline indicators**. For Pakistan-specific work you'll quickly need data it doesn't carry:

| You need | World Bank API | PakDataHub |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly USD/PKR back to 1947 | Annual averages | `fx.rate.avg.usd`, monthly from 1947 |
| KIBOR, the policy rate, the PKRV yield curve | - | `rates.kibor.3m`, `rates.policy`, `rates.pkrv.10y`, daily |
| CPI by group, urban vs rural, monthly | Annual headline inflation | `inflation.cpi.urban.food` and the other groups, monthly |
| Weekly flour, sugar and petrol prices in 17 cities | - | [`/v1/commodities/by-city`](https://pakdatahub.com/docs/api-commodities.md) |
| Monthly remittances by sending country | Annual total | `remittances.workers_remittances_received_*`, monthly |
| SBP reserves, monthly | Annual | `reserves.total_sbp_reserves`, monthly from 1948 |
| T-Bill and PIB auction cut-offs | - | [`/v1/fixed-income/auctions`](https://pakdatahub.com/docs/api-auctions.md) |
| Raast, cards, POS, e-commerce | - | `payments.raast.total.value` and the rest, quarterly |
| Mutual-fund NAVs and returns | - | [`/v1/funds`](https://pakdatahub.com/docs/api-funds.md), 567 funds |

## Different sources, different jobs

- The **World Bank** harmonizes data **across countries**, with a lag, at annual frequency.
- **PakDataHub** serves **Pakistan's own official releases** (SBP, PBS, PTA, MUFAP) at their native daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly frequency, as soon as they're published.

Many projects use both: World Bank data for the international comparison, PakDataHub for everything inside Pakistan.

## Getting the Pakistan detail

```bash
curl -H "X-API-Key: pk_live_xxx" \
  "https://api.pakdatahub.com/v1/series/inflation.cpi.national.yoy?from=2020-01-01&sort=asc"
```

Browse the [data dictionary](https://pakdatahub.com/docs/data-dictionary.md) for everything available, or [get a free key](https://pakdatahub.com/signup). The free tier reaches every dataset.

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Published 2026-09-25 - https://pakdatahub.com/blog/world-bank-api-pakistan