Islamabad, Jan 4: Pakistan’s export of services showed notable growth in November 2024, increasing by 6.51% to $675.69 million compared to $634.39 million in the same month last year. This growth trend has been consistent since February 2024, driven primarily by the rise in information technology exports, despite a dip in August 2024.
In terms of rupees, services exports improved by 3.63% to Rs187.713 billion in November, compared to Rs181.131 billion in the same month of FY24. For the first five months of FY25, services exports rose by 7.58% to $3.27 billion, up from $3.04 billion in the previous year.
Pakistan’s services export growth was modest in FY24, at just 2.77%, reaching $7.8 billion from $7.59 billion in the prior year. However, the country’s IT sector is showing promise, with Pakistan emerging as the second top country globally for freelancers, exporting IT products and services to 170 countries.
The government has set a target of $15 billion for IT exports over the next five years and introduced a new framework to facilitate freelancers, including easing the process for opening bank accounts and raising the amount that can be retained in foreign currency accounts.
Meanwhile, the import of services also rose by 4.60% year-on-year in November, totaling $828.56 million. From July to November FY25, service imports increased by 2.88%, amounting to $4.43 billion, compared to $4.30 billion in the same period last year. This resulted in a deceleration of the services trade deficit, which narrowed by 8.48% to $1.15 billion for the July-November FY25 period. However, in November, the trade deficit in services slightly increased by 3.10% to $152.87 million compared to $157.76 million last year.
