Services exports up 4.75% in 7 months

ISLAMABAD, Mar 12 (APP): The exports of services from the country witnessed growth of 4.75 percent during the first seven months of the current fiscal year as compared to the corresponding period of last year.

The services exports during July-January (2017-18) were recorded at $2.995 billion against the exports of $2.86 billion during July-January (2016-17), according to the latest data released by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

The imports of services into the country also increased from $5.544 billion last year to $5.952 billion during the current year, showing positive growth of 7.34 percent.

Based on the figures, the services trade deficit during first seven months of the current fiscal year witnessed growth of 10.11 percent by going up from the deficit of $2.684 billion last year to $2.9 billion during the current fiscal year.

Meanwhile, on year-on-year basis, services trade deficit narrowed by 6.58 per cent from $428.5 million in January 2017 to $400.33 million in January 2018. the services exports from the country during the month of January 2018 increased by 3.84 percent compared to the same month of last year.

The services exports during January 2018 were recorded at $411.47 million against the exports of $396.25 million in January 2017, the PBS data revealed.

The imports of services on year-on-year basis decreased by 1.57 percent by going down from $824.77 million January 2017 to $811.8 million in January 2018.

On month-on-month basis, the exports of services from the country, however, witnessed negative growth of 13.4 percent in January 2018 when compared to the exports of $475 million during December 2017.

On the other hand, the imports of services into the country expanded by 9.61 percent in October 2017 when compared to the imports of $744.37 million in September 2017, according to the data of PBS.