Raza Khan

Pakistan services exports grew by 4% in August 2022 as compared to the same month of last year, the Ministry of Commerce reported.

According to (provisional) data shared with WealthPK by the Ministry of Commerce, the country’s services exports rose to $575 million in August 2022 from $553 million in the corresponding month of last year.

Exports of IT, business services, transport, government goods and services, and travel sectors remained major contributors among the services exports in August.

Muhammad Suleyman Khan, Director General (Services, e-Commerce) in the Ministry of Commerce, told WealthPK that services exports have witnessed a significant increase in recent months. He said that growth in services exports was satisfactory in the last fiscal year though the annual target was not entirely achieved.

Suleyman said that services exports of $575 million in August show a good performance, and exports are expected to grow further in the coming months.

“With boom in e-commerce and IT acidities in the country, services exports are expected to get momentum in future,” he maintained.

According to data, the IT sector has the major contribution among services exports with an export volume of $227 million in August 2022, a slight increase of 1.33% against the same month of last fiscal year.

Business services’ exports were registered at $148 million in the second month of the current fiscal year 2022-23 against $140 million in the corresponding period of last year, with an addition of 5.71%.

The transport sector contributed $89 million to services exports in the month under review against $47 million in the same month of last fiscal year, posting a significant growth of 89.36%.

Exports of government goods and services were recorded at $58 million in the month under review against $56 million in the same month of last year, with an addition of 3.57%.

Exports in the travel sector were at $40 million in the month under review against $53 million in the same period of last year.

In a month-over-month (MoM) comparison, services exports in August increased by 3.60% as compared to July’s exports of $555 million.

IT exports grew by 16% in August compared to exports in July, while exports of business services also rose by 23.33% in the month under review against the preceding month.

Imports of services were recorded at $936 million in August 2002 as compared to $941 million in the same month of last year, with a slight decrease. Pakistan recorded $366 million deficit in its trade in services in August.

According to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Pakistan’s total services exports were recorded at $6.957 billion in the last fiscal year (2021-22), up by 17% against $5.945 billion exports of the preceding year (2020-21). Services imports were recorded at $12.087 billion in the last fiscal year.

The Ministry of Commerce has projected services exports worth $7.937 billion for the fiscal year 2022-23, while imports are projected to be around $14 billion.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk