Pakistan’s Service Exports Surge Despite Challenges, Fueling Growth in FY25

On May 9, Pakistan announced an increase of 9.85% in service exports during the initial nine-month period of fiscal year 2025. This brought the total earnings to $6.24 billion compared with $5.68 billion over the same timeframe last year, as stated by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. The surge can largely be attributed to greater demand for telecommunications, computing, and informational services. Nonetheless, there was a decline of 6.50% in travel-related service exports recorded in August 2024. Regardless of this decrease, the general trend in exports continues to show progress.

In terms of rupees, service exports increased by 7.41%, amounting to ₹1.734 trillion between July and March 2025. This figure surpasses the ₹1.616 trillion recorded for the corresponding months in the previous year. In March alone, there was a rise of 4.89%, pushing exports to $743.32 million compared to $708.66 million observed in March 2024. These statistics highlight consistent growth within Pakistan’s services industry.

The most rapidly expanding sector is telecommunications, computer, and information services. In this segment, exports surged by 23.68%. From July to March of 2025, revenues for these services reached $2.825 billion, marking an increase from $2.284 billion recorded in the previous period. Additionally, other business services experienced growth of 2.07%, totaling $1.229 billion, whereas transport services saw a rise of 31.56%, amounting to $742 million.

Despite the decline, travel services fell by 2.83%, amounting to $549 million. Nevertheless, Pakistan saw an increase in total service exports. In the previous year, these exports climbed by 2.77% to hit $7.8 billion. Additionally, Pakistan secured the second spot worldwide for freelance activity. Currently, their IT products are distributed across 170 nations. To support freelancers and draw in further foreign currency, the government implemented fresh regulations. Their objective is to achieve $15 billion worth of IT exports within half a decade.

In March 2025, the import of services saw an increase of 6.89%, amounting to $970.14 million. Throughout the nine-month period, these imports expanded by 8.74% totaling $8.552 billion. These increases were largely driven by greater expenditures on transportation and travel. Transportation services witnessed a rise of 2.78% to reach $3.653 billion, whereas travel-related expenses climbed by 9.45% hitting $1.876 billion. Consequently, this led to a 6.27% escalation in Pakistan’s service sector trade gap, which stood at $2.317 billion. Additionally, the shortfall for March alone escalated by 14.03% to stand at $226.82 million.