ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s exports of telecommunication, computer and information services have increased to $708.93 million in the first eight months of the current fiscal year.
The earning made through these exports during the corresponding period of fiscal year 2017-18 was $520.04 million, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported.
According to data issued by the PBS, the telecommunication services exports were recorded at $65.596 million during the current year against $61.533 million last year, showing decline of 17.12 per cent.
Among the telecommunication services exports, the exports of call center services increased by 6.6 percent.
The computer services exports have seen a growth of 11.73 per cent, rising from last year’s $460.44 million to $514.45 million. Among this sector, the software consultancy services grew from $185.40 million to $235.76 million, marking an increase of 27.16 per cent.
The maintenance and repair of computer services brought $4.289 million, showing growth of 298.61 per cent compared to the exports of $0.918 million last year.
The services regarding import and export of computer software declined by 6.97 per cent, as it was recorded at $184.137 million from last year’s US $ 197.939 million.
Other computer services exports have been recorded at $88.098 million, marking an increase of 21.36 per cent from last year.
Furthermore, the information services exports have witnessed increase by 74 per cent. These exports stood at $1.74 million among which news agency services exports saw decrease of 21.85 per cent while the exports of other information services increased by 150.54 per cent.
On a year-on-year basis, the information, computer and information services exports witnessed a nominal increase of 0.02 per cent in February 2019, reaching $80.96 million from US $ 80.94 million last year.
It is pertinent to mention here that the country’s services trade deficit narrowed by 36.54 per cent during the first eight months of the current fiscal year compared to the corresponding period of last year.
The services trade deficit during July-February (2018-19) was recorded at $2.30 billion against the deficit of $3.63 billion during July-February (2017-18), showing decline of 36.54 per cent, official data revealed.
The services’ imports into the country during the period under review decreased by 19.54 per cent to $5.77 billion from $7.17 billion last year, according to latest data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
Compare to imports, the exports of services witnessed a marginal negative growth of 2.14 per cent during the period.
The services exports during the first eight months of current fiscal year were recorded at $3.47 billion against the exports of $3.54 billion during the same period of last year.
