Islamabad: Export of services witnessed a substantial decline of 31.45 per cent in the first five months of the current fiscal year from a year ago.
In absolute terms, export of services fell to $2.064 billion in July-Nov 2013 as against $3.011bn over the corresponding months of last year, suggested data compiled by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
The decline is mainly driven by decrease in exports of government services.
On a monthly basis, exports of services witnessed a decline of 5.80pc in November 2013 over the same month last year.
Last year, annual export of services reached $6.618bn in July-June period of 2012-13 compared with $5.035bn in the corresponding period last year.
The services sector has emerged as main driver of economic growth. The share of the services sector increased from 56pc of GDP in 2005-06 to 57.7pc in 2012-13.
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, retail and some other sectors.
But import of services dropped to $3.136bn in July-Nov 2013 from $3.522bn over the corresponding months of last year, reflecting a decline of 10.96pc.
Last year, import of services declined to $7.758bn in July-June 2012-13 periods as against $8.227bn in the same period last year.
Services import, which decreased include transportation, travel, communications, insurance services, financial services, computer and information services and other business services during the months under review over last year.
As a result, the trade deficit in services was up by 109pc to $1.072bn in July-Nov 2013 from $511m in the corresponding months of last year.
