Pakistan earned US$ 854.100 million by providing different Information Technology (IT) services to various countries during the first four months of the current fiscal year 2022-23.
This shows a growth of 2.92 percent as compared to US$ 829.890 million earned through the provision of services during the corresponding months of the fiscal year 2021-22, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported.
During July-October (2022-23), the export of computer services grew by 5.86 percent as it surged from US$ 650.090 million last fiscal year to US$ 688.160 million this year.
Among the computer services, the exports of software consultancy services witnessed an increase of 9.65 percent, from US$ 231.238 million to US$ 253.549 million while the exports of hardware consultancy services also rose by 12.36 percent from US$ 0.898 million to US$ 1.009 million.
The export and import of computer software-related services surged by 13.58 percent, from US$ 167.475 million to US$ 190.224 million whereas the exports of repair and maintenance services increased to US$ 0.443 million from US$ 0.404 million.
In addition, the exports of other computer services witnessed a nominal decrease of 2.86 percent going from US$ 250.075 million to US$ 242.935 million.
Meanwhile, the export of information services during the period under review declined by 20.57 percent by going down from US$ 1.750 million to US$ 1.390 million.
Among the information services, the exports of news agency services decreased by 14.81 percent, from US$ 1.202 million to US$ 1.024 million whereas the exports of other information services also decreased by 33.21 percent, from US$ 0548 million to US$ 0.366 million.
The export of telecommunication services also witnessed a decrease of 7.58 percent as these went down from US$ 178.050 million to US$ 164.550 million during the months under review, the data revealed.
Among the telecommunication services, the export of call centre services increased by 17.43 percent during the period as its exports increased from US$ 59.299 million to US$ 69.637 million whereas the export of other telecommunication services decreased by 20.07 percent, from US$ 118.751 million to US$ 94.913 million during the period under review, the PBS data revealed.
It is pertinent to mention here that the services trade deficit shrank by 38.05 per cent as exports witnessed a growth of 3.97 per cent during the first four months of the current fiscal year as compared to the corresponding period of last year, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported.
The exports of services during July-September (2022-23) were recorded at US$ 1694.96 million against the exports of US$ 1619.93 million in July-September (2021-22), showing a growth of 4.63 percent.
The services’ imports declined by 11.83 per cent from US$ 3,483.37 million last year to US$3,071.13 million during the period under review.