LAHORE: The services trade deficit of the country during first five months of fiscal year 2014-15 decreased by 23.84 percent; exports increased by 18.6 percent and imports by 1.85 percent.
According to the data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistic (PBS), the overall services exports were recorded at US $2.376 billion during July-November 2014-15 against $ 2.003 billion during same period of the last year. Similarly, the imports of services increased from $3.31 billion in July-November 2013-14 to $3.371 billion during the corresponding period this year. Thus the overall trade deficit during the period under review was recorded at $995.5 million against $ 1.307 million last year.
On month-on-month basis, the services trade deficit surged by 27.97 percent going up from $215.27 million in October 2014 to $275.49 million in November. The exports, however, decreased by 20.12 percent in November to $296.2 million against $370.81 million during October 2014. Similarly, the imports of services also witnessed decrease of 2.46 percent by going down from $586.08 million in October to $571.69 million in November 2014.