Services trade deficits shrinks 38.18 percent in 4 months

ISLAMABAD: The services trade deficit narrowed by 38.18 percent during the first four months of the current fiscal year as compared to the corresponding period of last year, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported.

The deficit during July-October (2020-21) was recorded at $785.02 million against the deficit of $1269.85 million during July-October (2019-20), showing negative growth of 38.18 percent, according to latest data of PBS.

During the period under review, the services’ exports declined by 11.45 percent, from $1835.36 million last year to $1625.15 million during the current year while the imports services into the country witnessed decrease of $22.38 percent by going down from $3105.21 million last year to $2410.17 million this year.

Meanwhile, on year-on- year basis, the exports from the country decreased by 25.19 percent to $404.05 million during the month of October 2020 as compared to the exports of $540.11 million in October 2019.

The imports into the country during October were recorded at $643.11 million against the imports of $712.13 million in October 2019, showing negative growth of 9.69 percent, the data revealed.

On month-on-month basis the services’ exports from the country during October 2020 decelerated by 11.97 percent when compared to the exports of $459 million in September 2020.

On the other hand, the imports of services into the country increased by 18.45 percent during October 2020 when compared to the imports of $542.93 million in September 2020, according to the PBS data.

It is pertinent to mention here that the country’s merchandize exports increased by 2.11 percent during the first five months of the current fiscal year as compared to the corresponding period of last year.

The exports during July-November (2020-21) were recorded at $9.737 billion against the exports of $9.536 billion in July-November (2019-20), showing growth of 2.11 percent according to PBS data.

The imports into the country during the period under review also increased 1.29 percent by going up from $19.175 billion last year to $19.422 billion during the current fiscal year.

Based on the figures, there has been slight increase of 4.8 percent in the trade deficit during the period under review as it was recorded at $9.685 billion compared to the deficit of $9.639 billion during last year.