Pakistan's services exports up by 6% in first quarter of FY 2024-25

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s services exports increased by six percent in the first quarter of the current fiscal year, reaching 1.91 billion dollars due to support of Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC).

In September, services exports reached 656.99 million dollars, marking over seventeen percent increase. The main reason behind increase in services exports is the significant growth in the IT sector.

It is important to mention here that the exports from the country in the rupee term witnessed an increase of 9.57 per cent during the first four months of the current fiscal year as compared to the corresponding period of last year, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported.

Exports during July–October (2024-25) totalled Rs3,029,329 million as against Rs.2,764,712 million during the corresponding period of last year, showing an increase of 9.57%, according to provisional figures released by PBS.

On year-on-year basis, exports in October 2024 witnessed an increase of 9.91% and were recorded at Rs789,220 million as compared to the exports of Rs753,767 million during October, 2023.

On month-on-month basis, the exports in October 2024 increased by 4.97 percent as compared to the exports of Rs789,220 million in September, 2024.

The main commodities of exports during October, 2024 were knitwear (Rs136,359 million), readymade garments (Rs100,547 million), rice others (Rs81,544 million), bed wear (Rs 76,281 million), cotton cloth (Rs43,251 million), towels (Rs.26,419 million), oil seeds, uuts & kernals (Rs.26,289 million), madeup articles (excl towels & bedwear) (Rs.20,198 million), basmati rice (Rs19,064 million) and cotton yarn (Rs16,433 million).

On the other hand, imports during July–October, 2024 (FY2024-25) totalled Rs. 4,999,923 million as against Rs. 4,891,055 million during the corresponding period of last year, showing an increase of 2.23%.

Imports into Pakistan during October, 2024 amounted to Rs1,274,823 million as against Rs1,295,455 million in September, 2024 and Rs1,363,293 million during October, 2023 showing a decrease of 1.59% over September, 2024 and of 6.49% over October, 2023.

The commodities of imports during October, 2024 were petroleum products (Rs.110,620 million), petroleum crude (Rs.85,050 million), natural gas liquified (Rs.77,451 million), palm oil (Rs. 76,730 million), plastic materials (Rs.62,643 million), iron & steel (Rs.57,890 million), electrical machinery & apparatus (Rs.50,421 million), mobile phones (Rs. 48,408 million), fertilizer manufactured (Rs.32,568 million) and Iron & steel scrap (Rs. 28,200 million).