ISLAMABAD: The services exports from Pakistan surged by 14.28 per cent to $470 million in October, as compared to the exports during the same month of the previous year.
The trade deficit of services also fell sharply by 49.05 per cent during the month as it decreased to $195 million against the trade deficit of $382 million in the same month of previous year, according to latest data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
The imports of services declined by 16.25 per cent to $665 million in the corresponding month as compared to import of $794.02 million in October 2017.
Meanwhile, the trade deficit of services during first four months of current fiscal year (2018-19) also shrank by 33.75 per cent as exports increased by 2.13 per cent and imports fell by 15.47 per cent during the period, as compared to the period from July-October of 2017-18.
The data showed that the service trade deficit contracted to $1.099 billion during July-October 2018-19, from $1.658 billion in the same period of the previous year. The services exports also increased to $1.76 billion from $1.723 billion in first four months of the previous year whereas the imports during the period under review were recorded at $2.859 billion against imports of $3.38 billion in the corresponding period of last year.
It is pertinent to mention here that merchandise exports during the first five months of the current fiscal year increased by 1.29 per cent as compared to the exports of the corresponding period of last year. The exports from the country during the period under review reached to US$9.12 billion against exports worth of $9 billion during the same period of previous year, according to the latest data released by PBS.
The trade deficit during July-November of the current year shrank by 2.03 per cent to $14.513 billion against $14.814 billion recorded during the first five months of last fiscal year.
