ISLAMABAD: The export of services posted growth of nearly 14 per cent in December year-on-year to $627.99 million, showed data compiled by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday.

The service exports have picked up momentum since November 2020 after experiencing a steep decline of over 25pc in October 2020. The first two months (July-August) of FY21 also posted negative growth. However, the exports grew 12pc in September 2020.

The service exports during first half (July-December) of FY21 posted a paltry growth of 0.31pc to $2.844bn as against $2.835bn in the corresponding period last year.

Export of services dipped by over 8.66pc to $5.449bn in 2019-20 from $5.966bn in the preceding year.On the other hand, services imports posted growth of 0.15pc to $756.12m in December 2020 from $754.96m in the corresponding month last year. The import bill of services declined by 15.68pc to $3.821bn in the July-December period against $4.532bn in the corresponding months last year.

Published in Dawn, February 10th, 2021