ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) report shows that Pakistan’s exports of services witnessed growth of nearly 14 per cent.
The increase will help the government control the widening current account deficit in 2016-17. In the first seven months of the current fiscal year, exports of services recorded negative growth. Similarly, they fell 10.30pc to $2.895 billion in July-Jan. The annual drop was 7.14pc to $5.46bn in 2015-16.
The services sector has emerged as the main driver of economic growth. Its share increased from 56pc of the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2005-06 to 57.7pc in 2014-15.
Its major sub-sectors are finance and insurance, transport and storage, wholesale and retail trade, public administration and defence.
Pakistan has opened up its market to foreign service-providers, particularly in banking, insurance, telecommunications and retail areas.
The import of services increased 2.48pc to $4.881bn in July-Jan. On a monthly basis, the increase was 6.62pc in January as services imports remained $632.61m.
They fell 10.96pc to $7.87bn in 2015-16 against $8.843bn in the preceding year. Services whose imports witnessed a decline included transportation, travel, communications, insurance, financial, computer/information and other business services. The trade deficit in services increased 29.36pc to $1.986bn in July-Jan on a year-on-year basis.
