ISLAMABAD, Apr 26 (APP):The exports of various transport services earned $478.079 million for the country during the first eight months of the current fiscal year (2018-19).
However, as compared to the $659.255 million exports of last year, the exports of transport services during the July-February (2018-19) witnessed negative growth of 27.48 percent, according to the latest data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
The transport services, which contributed in negative growth included air transport services, exports of which declined by 33.46 percent, from $605.940 million last year to $403.170 million during the current year.
Among the air transport, the passenger services exports decreased by 38.93 percent, freight services exports by 68.88 percent while the trade of other air transport services declined by 22.48 percent.
The road transport services exports went up by 12.64 percent, from $41.760 million last year to $47.039 million during the current year. This upward trend in exports was witnessed only in freight exports while there was no trade in passenger service exports and other road transport services.
Meanwhile, the exports of sea transport services surged by 180.63 percent during the period under review as it went up from $9.475 million to $26.590 million.
Among the sea transport, the freight services increased by 433 percent whereas there was no trade in passenger services. The exports of all other sea transport services increased by 116 percent.
It is pertinent to mention here that the country’s services trade deficit narrowed by 36.54 percent during the first eight months of the current fiscal year compared to the corresponding period of last year.
The services trade deficit during July-February (2018-19) was recorded at US $ 2.303 billion against the deficit of US $ 3.630 billion during July-February (2017-18), showing decline of 36.54 percent, official data revealed.
The services’ imports into the country during the period under review decreased by 19.54 percent to US $ 5.775 billion from US $ 7.178 billion last year, according to latest data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
Compare to imports, the exports of services witnessed a marginal negative growth of 2.14 percent during the period.
The services exports during the first eight months of current fiscal year were recorded at US $ 3.472 billion against the exports of US $ 3.548 billion during the same period of last year.
