ISLAMABAD: Services trade deficit shrank by 29.11 per cent during the first half of current fiscal year compared to the corresponding period last year, according to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Tuesday.

The deficit in the first six months of the current fiscal year was recorded at $1.945 billion against $2.744bn during same period last fiscal year, showing a decline of 29.11pc, official data revealed.

The services imports during the period under review decreased by 15.97pc to $4.545bn from $5.409bn last year. On the other hand, export of services also witnessed negative growth of 2.42pc during the period clocking in at $2.599bn down from $2.664bn during the same period last year.

Meanwhile, on year-on-year basis, the services imports declined by 16.2pc falling from $1.052bn in December 2017 to $0.881bn in December 2018. During the same period, however, services exports also fell by 11.84pc going down from $0.524bn in December 2017 to $0.462bn in December 2017.

Based on the figures, the deficit during December was recorded at $0.419bn against $0.528bn recorded in December 2017, showing decline of 20.53pc on year-on-year basis.

It is pertinent to mention here that the country’s merchandise trade deficit plunged by 9.66pc during July-January (2018-19) as the deficit contracted by over $2bn to $19.264bn in the period under review against $21.324bn recorded during same period last year.

The exports during current fiscal year also witnessed an increase of 2.24pc to $13.231bn up from $12.941bn last year while the imports declined by 5.17pc to $32.495bn from $34.265bn during first seven months of current fiscal year, PBS reported.

Published in Dawn, February 13th, 2019