ISLAMABAD: The export of services surged by 18.60 percent to $2.376 billion during July-Nov period of this fiscal year against $2.003bn in the corresponding period last year. However, export of services down 12.65 percent to $296.20 million in November 2014 from $339.11m in the corresponding month last year.
According data released by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), services export witnessed a robust growth in the first three months (July-Sept) of 2014-15 and went down in October.
The services sector has emerged as the main driver of economic growth as Its share has swelled from 56 percent of GDP in 2005-06 to 57.7 percent in 2013-14.
Pakistan has opened up its market to foreign services providers, particularly in banking, insurance, telecommunications, retail and some other sectors. Subsequently, the import of services witnessed a growth of 1.85pc to $3.37bn in July-Nov period from $3.31bn in the same period of last year.
In the year 2013-14, the import of services dropped to $7.795bn from $8.205bn over the previous year.
As a result of increase in exports, trade deficit in services also declined by 23.84pc to $995.58m in July-Nov 2014 from $1.307bn in the previous year.
Pakistan’s share in global trade in services stood at less than 0.06pc in 2013-14.