Services’ trade up by 5.77% in 1st Quarter, deficit narrows by 21.77%

                ISLAMABAD, Nov 4 (APP): The export of various services witnessed a 5.77 percent increase during the first quarter of the current fiscal year compared to the corresponding months of last year.

According to the latest PBS data, Pakistan earned $1.906 billion from the export of services during July-September FY2024-25 as compared to services’ export of $1.802 billion in July-September FY2023-24, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported.

On the other hand, the services’ imports witnessed a decline of 3.35 percent during the months under review and were recorded at $2.605 billion as compared to the import of $2.695 billion in July-September FY2023-24.

Based on the figures, the services trade deficit shrank by 21.77 percent during the first quarter as compared to the corresponding months of the previous year. The services trade deficit was recorded at $698.85 million during the period under review as against a deficit of $893 million last year.

Meanwhile, on a year-on-year basis, the exports of services in September 2024 increased by 17.04 percent to $656.99 million from $561.36 million in September 2023.

On the other hand, the imports decreased by 3.99 percent going down from $918.91 million to $882.23 million, according to PBS data.

On a month-on-month basis, the export of services increased by 6.55 percent in September 2024 when compared to the exports of $616.59 million in August 2024.

The imports of services witnessed a decrease of 1.95 percent in September 2024 compared to imports of $899.76 million in August 2024, PBS reported.

It is pertinent to mention here that the merchandise exports from the country increased by 13.45 percent during the first four months of the current fiscal year as compared to the corresponding months of last year.

Exports during July-October (2024-25) were recorded at $10.880 billion against $9.590 billion during July-October (2023-24), according to PBS data.

On the other hand, imports into the country also went up by 5.17 percent growing from $16.977 billion last year to $17.854 billion during the first four months of the current year.

Based on the figures, the trade deficit during the months under review was recorded at $6.974 billion against the deficit of $7.387 billion last year, showing a decrease of 5.59 percent.