ISLAMABAD: Services export grew by over 24.25 per cent year-on-year in the first four months of the current fiscal year with a major contribution from the highest-ever growth in export of IT services, showed data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Friday.

In absolute terms, the value of services export reached $2.122bn in July-October compared to $1.708bn over the corresponding months last year.

On a monthly basis, services export in October posted a growth of 23.14pc to $532.07m compared to $432.07m in the same month last year.

However, on a month-on-month basis, services export declined by 6.49pc.

Services export increased 9.19pc to $5.937bn in FY21 compared to $5.437bn the preceding year.

The growth in the services export is mainly led by the highest-ever export of IT services. Services exports also include finance and insurance, transport and storage, wholesale and retail trade, public administration and defence sectors.

The commerce ministry has projected $7.5bn target of services export for the year 2021-22.

On the other hand, services import also surged by 27.33pc to $3.164bn in July-October against $2.485bn a year ago.

In October, imports posted growth of 25.43pc to $814.09m against $649.06m in the same month last year. On a month-on-month basis, imports grew 11.66pc.

Services import reached $7.812bn in FY21 falling by 10.75pc from $8.753bn in the preceding year.

The trade deficit in services increased by 34.10pc to $1.042bn in 4MFY22 against $777.11m a year ago. In October, the gap between export and import of services widened by 29.97pc to $282.02m from $216.99m in October 2020.

According to PBS data, the trade deficit in commodities surged by 111.74pc to $20.59bn in July-November period from $9.72bn in the corresponding period last year.

The breakdown shows that the overall imports value reached $32.934bn in the July-November period against $19.90bn over the same period last year, showing an increase of 69.17pc. In November, the imports value increased to $7.847bn against $4.292bn over the last year, an increase of 82.83pc.

The exports of commodities grew 32.84pc to $2.884bn in November against $2.171bn in November 2020. In the first five months of FY22, the exports of commodities increased by 26.68pc to $12.344bn against $1.599bn in 5MFY21.

Published in Dawn, December 4th, 2021