Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan earned US $ 264.254 million by providing different travel services in various countries during the first half of current financial year 2019-20.

This shows growth of 29.49 percent as compared to US $ 204.070 million same services were provided during the corresponding period of fiscal year 2018-19, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) said.

During the period under review, the personal travel services grew by 29.91 percent, from US $ 201.220 million last year to US $ 261.404 million during July-December (2019-20).

Among these personal services, the exports of education related Expenditure and personal expenditure decreased by 32.19 and 70.10 percent respectively.

In addition, the other personal services increased by 34.33, out of which religious and other travel services witnessed growth of 171.20 and 34.19 percent respectively.

On the other hand, the exports of business services remained same, as exported worth US $ 2.850 million during July-December (2019-20), the PBS data revealed.

It is pertinent to mention here that the services trade deficit of the country during first half of current financial year decreased by 17.46% as compared the corresponding period of last year.

During the period from July-December, 2019-20, services exports grew by 6.11%, whereas imports reduced by 4.67%, according the data released by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.

The services worth US $ 2.738 billion exported during the period under review as compared the exports of US $ 2.580 billion in same period of last year, whereas imports of services into the country was recorded at US $ 4.533 billion as against the imports of US $ 4.755 billion, the data revealed.