January 11, 2019 (MLN): Pakistan’s Trade Deficit in Services for November 2018 has shrunken by 40% from last year and is documented at $333 million, shows formal data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
In harmony with the trend, the cumulative deficit for the Jul-Nov period improved by 35% YoY, and stands recorded at $1.4 billion. Provisional figures show that import value ($3.6 billion) during the period fell by 17%.
However, the figure has surged at an alarming rate of 70.7% from previous month when the deficit was at $195 million.
From a year on year perspective, the deficit seems to have improved due to a considerable decline in import value which dropped by over 23% or over $200 million, from services worth $975 million to $749 million imported.
Similarly, the month-on-month amplification in deficit results from a large addition in import value from October 2018 (+13.66%). While exports diminished by 10%, the decline was not sufficient enough to arrest the widening deficit.
