ISLAMABAD -The country’s services trade deficit witnessed sharp decline of 42.96 per cent during the financial year 2019-20 as compared to the corresponding period of last year. During the period under review, the country’s services exports declined by 8.66 per cent, whereas services’ imports narrowed by 24.25 per cent, according to trade statistics released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). The exports were recorded at $5.449 billion, as against the exports of $5.966 billion during the same period of last year. Similarly, services’ imports went down from $10.936 billion to $8.284 billion. Based on the figures, the country’s services trade deficit during the period under review was recorded at $2.834 billion, as against the deficit of $4.969 billion during last year. On a year-on-year basis, the country’s exports decreased by 9.86 per cent in June 2020 as compared to the same month of last year. The exports during Jue 2020 were recorded at $402.04 million, as against the exports of $446 million in June 2019. The imports also witnessed a decrease of 19.73 per cent, from $789.94 million in June 2019 to $634.10 million in June 2020. On a month-on-month basis, the services’ exports from the country increased by 5.51 per cent in June 2020 when compared to the exports of $381.03 million in May 2020. On the other hand, imports into the country increased by 61.36 per cent in June 2020 when compared to the imports of $392.98 million in February.

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