Service sector trade deficit clocks in at $218m in December

January 17, 2025 (MLN): The service sector of Pakistan posed a trade deficit of $218 million in December 2024, reflecting a surge of 116% as compared to a deficit of $101m recorded in the Same Period Last Year (SPLY), the latest data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) showed.

Comparison on a monthly basis shows that the country reported a deficit of $200m in trade of services in the previous month.

Details made available by SBP further revealed that the exports of services in December went up by 17.71% to $784m compared to $666m in November 2024.

Similarly, on a yearly basis, exports rose by 4.81% compared to the figures for December 2023.

Cumulatively in 6MFY25, services exports climbed by 6.38% to $4.05bn compared to exports of $3.79bn in 6MFY24.

Amongst the total exports in the review month, Telecommunications, Computer, and Information Services made the largest contribution with an amount of $348m in December, witnessing an increase of 14.85% compared to exports in SPLY.

Meanwhile, Other Business Services held the second position, bringing $154m in December into the country.

In terms of growth, receipts from the exports of this section went up by 2% compared to $151m in the same period last year.

On a sequential basis, other business services surged by 24.2% compared to exports of $124m in November 2024.

Furthermore, the export of transport and travel services contributed an amount of $75m and $64m, respectively in the review period.

The imports of services during the year amounted to $1bn, which rose by 18% compared to imports worth $849m in SPLY.

On a monthly basis, imports have increased compared to $866m recorded in the previous month.

Going forward, the imports during 6MFY25, stood at $5.64bn, up by 9.45% compared with the number during 6MFY24.

Amongst the total imports, the largest expenditure was incurred on Transport for an amount of $464m, witnessing a decline of 32.57% YoY and 14.56% MoM.

The Travel services cost the country around $196m, recording an increase of 31.54% YoY and 4.8% MoM.

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