ISLAMABAD: With major contribution of information technology (IT), transport, government goods and services and business services sectors, Pakistan’s services exports grew by 15% during November in the current fiscal year (2021-22).
Pakistan’s services exports rose to $583 million in November 2021-22 from $505 million in the corresponding month of last fiscal year (2020-21), according to data from the Ministry of Commerce obtained by WealthPK.
The country’s services exports grew by 6.38% in November as compared to the preceding month (October) when the exports volume recorded $548 million.
Data shows that exports of telecommunications, computer and information services (IT) grew by 32% and rose to $221 million in November 2021-22 from $168 million in the same month of 2020-21.
IT exports in November also saw growth of 13.33% over October when exports volume recorded $195 million.
Volume of business services exports in November remained $125 million, almost the same as it was in the same month of last fiscal year.
Exports of transport services also increased by 80% in November in the current fiscal year and export volume recorded $80 million against $50 million in the same month of the last fiscal year. Transport services exports in November 2021-22 also posted 33.33% growth over exports in October.
Travel services export volume decreased by 2% and remained $46 million during the fifth month of the current fiscal year as compared to $47 million in the corresponding month of the last fiscal year. However, the travel services exports registered an increase of 9.52% over the export volume of $42 million recorded in October.
Exports of government goods and services also decreased by 8% and dropped to $85 million in November 2021-22 from $92 million in November 2020-21.
Exports of financial services rose to $12 million in November of the current fiscal year from $5 million in the same month of last year, with an increase of 139%.
With an increase of 25%, exports of construction services rose to $10 million during the month under review from $8 million in November 2020-21.
Overall, in the first five months (July-November) of the current fiscal year, exports of services recorded $2.721 billion against $2.213 billion during the same period of 2020-21, registering a growth of 23%.
Pakistan’s exports of IT services in the period of July-November 2021-22 surged to $1.051 billion at a growth rate of 37.57% compared to $764 million during July-November fiscal year 2020-21.
Pakistan’s services imports also grew by 37.19% during July-November period in the current fiscal year and imports volume rose to $678.484 billion from $494.574 billion in July-November 2020-21.
The Ministry of Commerce has projected a $7.5 billion target of services exports for the current fiscal year.
Kousar Ali Zaidi, Director General (Services) in the Ministry of Commerce, told WealthPK that the government is hopeful for achieving services exports’ target in the current year.
He was of the view that services exports would get momentum during the second half of the current fiscal year.
“Usually, services exports, especially IT exports, remain high during the second half of the year,” the DG said.
Kousar Ali Zaidi said that an increasing trend in services exports has been observed so far in 2021-22 which was a positive indication. He added that IT activities and e-trade in Pakistan have been booming since the outbreak of the COVID-19. -INP
