ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s trade deficit in services showed a decrease of 89% during the first seven months of the current fiscal compared to the corresponding period of the previous financial year, WealthPK reports.
According to the data released by the Ministry of Commerce, Pakistan’s trade deficit in services reduced to $301 million in the ongoing fiscal from $2.736 billion during the first seven months of the previous financial year.
The exports of services from the country rose to $4.196 billion during the first seven months of the current financial year from $3.945 billion in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal, showing an increase of 6.36%.
On the other hand, Pakistan’s imports of services declined by 32.68% in the ongoing fiscal to $4.497 billion from $6.681 billion in the first seven months of last year.
Information technology, business, transport, government goods and services and travel sectors remained major contributors to the export of services from Pakistan in the ongoing financial year.
According to the data, the IT sector remained a major contributor to the export of services during the first seven months of the current fiscal with a volume of $1.523 billion against $1.488 billion in the same period of the previous financial year, showing an increase of 2.35%.
The exports of business services were recorded at $972 million in the ongoing year against $906 million in the first seven months of the previous year, witnessing a growth of 4%.
With a marginal increase of 2%, the exports of government goods and services were recorded at $642 million in the current fiscal against $630 million in the first seven months of last year.
With a substantial growth of 53.65%, the exports of the travel services reached $484 million during the first seven months of the ongoing financial year against $315 million in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.
The exports of transport services rose to $477 million from $434 million in the first seven months of the previous fiscal, registering an increase of 10%. The exports of construction, insurance, pension and financial services from the country were recorded at $26 million, $40 million and $ 45 million, respectively, in the ongoing fiscal. On a year-on-year basis, the exports of services grew by 17.34% in January and its volume reached $602 million against $513 million during the same month of last year.
The exports of services in IT, business, government goods and services, transport and travel sectors were recorded at $190 million, $129 million, $63 million, $58 million and $148 million, respectively, in January 2023.
On the other hand, the imports of services were recorded at $584 million in January 2023 compared to $1.110 billion in the same month of last year, showing a decline of 47.38%.
The trade surplus in the exports of services from Pakistan were recorded at $18 million compared to a trade deficit of $597 million during the same month of the last fiscal.
According to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the total exports of services from the country were recorded at $6.957 billion during the previous fiscal, up by 17% against $5.945 billion of the previous year.
The imports of services remained $12.087 billion during the previous fiscal.
The Ministry of Commerce has projected the volume of service exports from the country at $7.937 billion for the current fiscal while the imports of services is estimated to be around $14 billion, according to information gathered by WealthPK.
