ISLAMABAD, Oct 20: The services sector exports increased by 12.25 per cent in the first two months (July-August) of the fiscal year 2007-08 over the same months last year, the Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS) said on Saturday.

The services export proceeds reached $481.496m as against $428.946 million last year.

In August, services exports witnessed a robust growth of 14.82 per cent to $260.188 million as against the $226.613 million recorded last year.

The statistics showed that the services sector exports were steadily on the rise for the last two years following having preferential market access.

On the other hand, import of services rose by 20.09 per cent to $1.623 billion in July-August period of the current fiscal year as against $1.351 billion over the same period last year.

Imports of services rose by 38.04 per cent to $854.019 million in August 2007 as against $618.658 million over the same month last year.

The deficit in trade in services widened by 23.73 per cent to $1.141 billion during the first two months of the current fiscal year as against $922.841 million over the same period last year.