ISLAMABAD: Export of services increased 5.63 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to $468.39 million in March compared to $443.44m during the same period of last year, according to latest data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
Exports of services have consecutively declined for the last three months after posting a double digit growth of 14.3pc in November 2018.
In the cumulative July-March period, export proceeds posted a negative growth of 0.50pc to $3.946 billion compared to the same period last year.
The services sector has emerged as the main driver of economic growth as its share in the GDP increased from 56pc in 2005-06 to nearly 59pc in 2017-18.
Services exports are concentrated in finance and insurance, transport and storage, wholesale and retail trade, public administration and defence sectors.
On the other hand, services imports reached to $6.479 billion in July-March falling by 21.81pc from $8.286 billion over the corresponding months last year. On a monthly basis, the imports of services posted a negative growth of 17.47pc year-on-year to $705.68m.
Trade deficit in services has declined by 41.38pc to $2.532 billion in July-March against $4.320bn over the corresponding months last year. On a month-on-month basis, trade deficit in services dipped 42.36pc to $237.29m in March.
