ISLAMABAD, May 8: Services sector exports went up by 99.65 per cent in February 2008 over the same month last year, the Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS) said on Thursday.

The services export proceeds totalled $508.951 million in the month under review as against $254.919 million over the same month last year.

An official in the commerce ministry said the growth was recorded mainly due to increase in the services proceeds of information technology. According to the statistics, exports in the first eight months, however, declined by 16.34 per cent to $2.123 billion in July-February period of the current fiscal year against $2.538 billion over the same period last year.

On the other hand, imports of services climbed by 14.41 per cent to $6.347 billion during the July-February period of the current fiscal year as against $5.547 billion over the same period last year.

On a monthly basis, the import of services increased by 20.93 per cent to $765.480 million during the month of February 2008 as against $632.973 million over the same month last year.

The deficit in the trade of services reached $4.223 billion during the first eight months of the current fiscal year as against $3.009 billion over the same period last year, indicating a growth of 40.35 per cent.

On monthly basis, the deficit in services declined by 32.14 per cent to $256.529 million in February 2007 as against $378.054 million over the same month of the last year. This decline was mainly due to higher than expected increase in export of services during the month under review over last year.