Services' exports up by 17.07% in 3 quarters, 20.19% in March

ISLAMABAD, May 8: The exports of services from the country witnessed an increase of 17.07 percent during the first three quarters of the current financial year (2021-22) as compared to the corresponding period of last year, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported. The exports of services during July-March (2021-22) were recorded at US $ 5,156.10 million against the exports of US $4,404.24 million during July-March (2020-21), showing growth of 17.07 percent. The services' imports also rose by 31.33 percent by growing from US $ 6,347.08 million last year to US $ 8,335.39 million during the period under review. Based on the figures, the services trade deficit was recorded at US $ 3,179.29 billion this year against the deficit of US $ 1,942.84 billion during the last fiscal year, showing an increase of 63.64 percent. On year-onyear basis, the services' exports during the month of March 2022 grew by 20.19 percent to US $ 668.29 million against the exports of US $ 556.03 million during March 2021. The imports also grew by 25.29 percent from US $ 744.00 million in last March to US $ 932.15 million in March 2022, according to the data. On month-on-month basis, the exports from the country went up by 24.93 percent as compared to the exports of US $ 534.92 million in February 2022. The imports also went up by 12.87 percent as compared the imports of US $825.85 million in February 2022, the data revealed. Meanwhile, the merchandize exports from the country witnessed an increase of 25.46 percent during the first ten months of the current fiscal year (2021-22) as compared to the corresponding months of last year. The exports from the country were recorded at $26.228 billion during July-April (2021-22) against the exports of $20.905 billion recorded during July-April (2020-21), showing growth of 25.46 percent. The imports during the months under review also went up by 46.41 percent by growing from $44.731 billion last year to $65.492 billion in JulyApril (2021-22).