Daily Times

The country’s services trade deficit contracted by 52.37 percent during the first three quarters of the current financial year (2020-21) as compared to the corresponding period of last year.

The services trade deficit during July-March (2020-21) was recorded at $1362.53 million against the deficit of $2860.59 million in July-March (2019-20), according to the latest data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

The services exports during the period under review witnessed an increase of 0.61 percent and were recorded at $4371.95 million against the exports of $4345.55 million last year. On the other hand, the imports into the country shrunk by 20.42 percent by falling from $7206.14 million to $5734.48 million, the PBS data revealed.

Meanwhile, on a year-on-year basis, the services exports from the country increased by 31.72 percent and were recorded at $563.95 million in March 2021 against the exports of $428.14 million in March 2020.

On the other hand, the imports also witnessed an increase of 16.08 percent by going up from $584.09 million in March 2020 to $678.01 million in March 2021, the data revealed. On a month-on-month basis, the exports from the country witnessed an increase of 15.82 percent in March 2021 when compared to the exports of $486.93 million in February 2021.

On the other hand, imports into the country increased by 7.95 percent in March 2020 when compared to the imports of $628.05 million in February 2021, the PBS data revealed. It is pertinent to mention here that the merchandise exports from the country increased by 13.49 percent during the first ten months of the current fiscal year. The exports from the country were recorded at $20.881 billion during July-April (2020-21) against the exports of $18.399 billion in July-April (2019-20).