The exports from Pakistan in rupee term increased by 8.74 percent during the first eight months of the current fiscal year as compared to corresponding period of last year, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported. The exports during July-February (2020-21) were recorded at Rs 2,651,474 million as against Rs. 2,438,365 million during July-February (2019-20), showing an increase of 8.74 percent, according to provisional data of PBS. The exports from Pakistan during February, 2021 amounted to Rs. 329,116 million as compared with Rs. 343,612 million in January, 2021 and Rs329,588 million during February, 2020, showing a decrease of 4.22 percent over January, 2021 and of 0.14 percent over February, 2020. Main commodities of exports during February, 2021 were knitwear (Rs 46,464 million), readymade garments (Rs 37,945 million), bed-wear (Rs 32,363 million), cotton cloth (Rs 23,705 million), cotton yarn (Rs 19,137 million), rice others (Rs 18,391 million), towels (Rs 12,329 million), Basmati rice (Rs 10,298 million), madeup articles, excluding towels and bed-wear (Rs 9,406 million) and fruits (Rs 8,433 million). On the other hand, the imports during July-February (2020-2021) totaled Rs 5,503,675 million as against Rs 4,910,451 million during the corresponding period of last year showing an increase of 12.08 percent. The imports into Pakistan during February 2021 amounted to Rs. 735,609 million as against Rs. 771,939 million in January, 2021 and Rs. 642,896 million during February 2020, showing a decrease of 4.71 percent over January, 2021 but an increase of 14.42 percent over February 2020. The main commodities of imports during February, 2021 were petroleum products (Rs 53,679 million), natural gas, liquefied (Rs 35,733 million), palm oil (Rs 34,619 million), petroleum crude (Rs 33,659 million), plastic materials (Rs 31,810 million), power generating machinery (Rs 31,569 million), mobile phone (Rs 27,979 million), raw cotton (Rs 24,683 million), iron & steel scrap (Rs 23,709 million) and electrical machinery and apparatus (Rs 23,366 million). Current account deficit: Pakistan’s current account deficit narrowed to $50 million in February 2021 as compared to the deficit of $210 million in January and $652 million in December 2020. The current account balance in February 2020 witnessed a deficit of $197 million, according to a data released by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Monday. On average, the current account remained in a surplus of $881 million during July-February (2020-21), against a deficit of $2,741 million during same period of FY20. “Surplus in current account is helped by a continuous strong growth in workers’ remittances and a sustained recovery in exports since November 2020 in year-on-year terms, which more than offset increase in imports due to domestic food shortages and recovering economic activity”, the Central Bank said on its official Twitter account. In February the oversees Pakistanis transferred remittances worth of $2.266 billion while in same month of last year the remittances were recorded at $1.825 billion. According to the data, the Current Account Deficit without official transfers also narrowed to $71 million in February as compared to the deficit of $233 million in same month of last year. The trade deficit in goods expanded from $1.57 billion in February 2020 and $2.336 billion in January 2021 to $2.35 billion in February this year. The trade deficit in services however significantly narrowed to $186 million in the corresponding month as compare to the deficit of $407 million in February 2020 and $163 million in January 2021. As a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP), the current account balance witnessed a deficit of 0.2 percent in February this year as opposed to deficit of 0.9 percent in the same period of last year. Travel services: Pakistan earned US $277.150 million by providing different travel services in various countries during the seven months of current financial year 2020-21. This shows decline of 16.04 percent as compared to US $330.104 million same services were provided during the corresponding period of fiscal year 2019-20, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) said. During the period under review, the personal travel services decreased by 15.52 percent, from US $326.734 million last year to US $276.040 million during July-January (2020-21). Among these personal services, the exports of personal expenditure however rose by 35.62 percent while the education related expenditure however witnessed a decrease of 14.84. In addition, the other personal services also decreased by 15.65 percent, out of which religious and other travel services witnessed decline 94 and 15.52 percent respectively. Meanwhile, the exports of business services also dipped by 67.06 percent, from US $3.370 million to US $1.110 million, the PBS data revealed. It is pertinent to mention here that the services trade deficit of the country during the seven months of financial year (2020-21) decreased by 41.09 percent as compared to the corresponding period of last year. During the period from July-January, 2020-21, services exports increased by 0.63 percent, whereas imports reduced by 14.45 percent, according the data released by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. The services worth US $3.366 billion exported during the period under review as compared the exports of US $3.345 billion in same period of last year, whereas imports of services into the country was recorded at US $4.481 billion as against the imports of US $5.238 billion, the data revealed.