ISLAMABAD: Services exports fell by over five per cent year-on-year to $436.05 million in the first month of the current fiscal year, data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) showed on Friday.

The services exports revived as it posted a growth of 10.95pc in the month under review when compared with the previous month.

Services exports dipped by over 8.66pc year-on-year to $5.449 billion in Financial Year 2019-20 from $5.966bn over the corresponding year.

Services exports have fallen since March after the government imposed a lockdown across the country to contain the Covid-19 pandemic.

On the other hand, services imports dipped by 9.3pc to $798.05m in July from $879.88m in the corresponding month of last year.

The services imports fell to $8.284bn in July-June, from $10.936bn in the same months last year, reflecting a decline of 24.25pc.

As a result, the trade deficit in services narrowed by 13.79pc to $362m in July 2020 from $419.89m over the corresponding month of last year.

The trade deficit in services also narrowed by 42.25pc to $2.834bn in FY20 as against $4.969bn over the same period last year.

Published in Dawn, September 5th, 2020