ISLAMABAD: The services trade deficit narrowed by 38.18 percent during thefirst four months of the current fiscal year as compared to thecorresponding period of last year, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS)reported.

The deficit during July-October (2020-21) was recorded at $785.02 millionagainst the deficit of $1269.85 million during July-October (2019-20),showing negative growth of 38.18 percent, according to latest data of PBS.

During the period under review, the services’ exports declined by 11.45percent, from $1835.36 million last year to $1625.15 million during thecurrent year while the imports services into the country witnessed decreaseof $22.38 percent by going down from $3105.21 million last year to $2410.17million this year.

Meanwhile, on year-on- year basis, the exports from the country decreasedby 25.19 percent to $404.05 million during the month of October 2020 ascompared to the exports of $540.11 million in October 2019.

The imports into the country during October were recorded at $643.11million against the imports of $712.13 million in October 2019, showingnegative growth of 9.69 percent, the data revealed.

On month-on-month basis the services’ exports from the country duringOctober 2020 decelerated by 11.97 percent when compared to the exports of$459 million in September 2020.

On the other hand, the imports of services into the country increased by18.45 percent during October 2020 when compared to the imports of $542.93million in September 2020, according to the PBS data.

It is pertinent to mention here that the country’s merchandize exportsincreased by 2.11 percent during the first five months of the currentfiscal year as compared to the corresponding period of last year.

The exports during July-November (2020-21) were recorded at $9.737 billionagainst the exports of $9.536 billion in July-November (2019-20), showinggrowth of 2.11 percent according to PBS data.

The imports into the country during the period under review also increased1.29 percent by going up from $19.175 billion last year to $19.422 billionduring the current fiscal year.

Based on the figures, there has been slight increase of 4.8 percent in thetrade deficit during the period under review as it was recorded at $9.685billion compared to the deficit of $9.639 billion during last year.