Services’ exports up 26% in two months

ISLAMABAD: The services’ exports witnessed an increase of 26.05 per cent during the first two months of the current fiscal year as against the corresponding period of the last year, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported.

The exports of services during July-August 2021/22 were recorded at $1,008.31 million against the exports of $799.94 million in July-August 2020/21, showing a growth of 26.05 per cent.

The imports also increased 31.42 per cent by growing from $1,238.04 million last year to $1,627.07 million during the current fiscal year.

Based on the figures, the services’ trade deficit widened 41.24 per cent to $618.76 million during the first two months of the current fiscal year, compared with the deficit of $438.10 million last year.

Meanwhile, on a year-on-year basis, the services’ exports during August 2021 grew 53.64 per cent by growing to $531.29 million against the exports of $345.81 million during August 2020.

The imports also grew 88.89 per cent from $469.05 million in last August to $885.98 million in August 2021, the data revealed.

On a month-on-month basis, the exports witnessed an increase of 11.38 per cent, compared with the exports of $477.02 million in July 2021.

The imports also increased 19.55 per cent, with the imports of $741.09 in July 2021, the PBS data showed.

The country’s merchandise exports during the first quarter of the current fiscal year witnessed an increase of 27.32 per cent, compared with the corresponding period of the last year.

The merchandise exports stood at $6.967 billion this year against the exports of $5.472 billion last year. Likewise, the merchandise imports during the period under review also went up 65.08 per cent by growing to $18.631 billion in July-September 2021/22 from $11.286 billion last year.