For the third consecutive month, Pakistan’s export of services has decreased by 13.50% to $614.96 million in March from $710.94 million over the same period last year, according to data compiled by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
Although the export of services saw positive growth in the first half of the current fiscal year, it started declining in January. Additionally, the export of commodities has consistently decreased since the beginning of the current fiscal year.
In the first nine months of the current fiscal year, the export of services had a 4.75% growth, reaching $5.53 billion in July-March, up from $5.27 billion in the corresponding months of last year.
However, the export of services experienced a growth of 17.20% to $6.968 billion in 2021-22 from $5.945 billion in the preceding year. The highest-ever growth in IT-related services contributed to this increase in the overall export figure.
The government has set a target of $45 billion for overall exports in 2022-23, which includes $35 billion for commodities and $10 billion for services.
Services exports comprise finance and insurance, transport and storage, wholesale and retail trade, public administration, defence, etc. The services sector has emerged as the main economic growth driver, contributing 61% to the GDP in 2020-21, up from 56% in 2005-06.
Meanwhile, the import of services also declined by 39.67% to $5.75 billion in the July-March period compared to $9.54 billion in the same period last year. In March, the import of services dipped by 41.43% to $647.10 million from $1.104 billion over the same month last year.
The trade deficit in services decreased by 94.63% to $229.32 million in July-March FY23 compared to $4.266 billion over the corresponding months of last year. In March, the trade deficit in services decelerated by 91.84% to $0.032 million against $393.91 million over the preceding month.
