By Raza Khan ISLAMABAD, April 21 (INP-WealthPK): With the export volume of $4.492 billion during the first eight months of the current fiscal year, Pakistan has achieved 60% of the annual services exports target set for FY 2021-22, says the Ministry of Commerce. The Ministry of Commerce has set a $7.5 billion target for services exports for the current fiscal year, while the target for IT exports is $3.5 billion. According to data shared with WealthPK by the Ministry of Commerce, exports of IT, business services, government goods and services, travel, and transport sectors are the major contributors among the services exports during the July-February period. Pakistan’s services exports were recorded $4.492 billion during July-February 2021-22 against $3.801 billion during the corresponding period of 2020-21, registering a growth of 18%.  Services exports during February 2022 increased by 14% and rose to $547 million from $481 million as compared to the corresponding month of 2021. Kousar Ali Zaidi, Director General (Services) in the Ministry of Commerce, told WealthPK that the government was right on track in achieving services exports target of the current fiscal year. He was of the view that services’ exports would get momentum during the remaining months of the current fiscal year. “Usually services exports, especially IT exports, remain high during second half of the fiscal year,” the official maintained. He informed that Pakistan has already achieved 60% of the annual services exports target during eight months, which was a satisfactory progress. Zaidi said that an increasing trend in services exports has been observed so far in 2021-22 which was a positive indication. “Activities in IT and e-commerce sectors in Pakistan are booming after the COVID-19,” the official added. He said that after observing the exports of eight months, the Ministry of Commerce was hopeful that exports target of IT services was also achievable by the end of June. According to data, IT exports have major contribution among services exports with export volume of $1.689 billion during July-February 2021-2022. IT exports were recorded $1.3 billion during the same months of last fiscal year. With the increase of 14%, business services exports were recorded $1.048 billion during the first eight months of the current fiscal year against $916 million during the corresponding period of last fiscal year. Exports of government goods and services were recorded $705 million during the period under review against $669 million during the corresponding period of last year, with an addition of 5%. Transport sector contributed $508 million, while exports of travel sector recorded $360 million during the period under review, the Ministry of Commerce reported. Export volume of construction sector declined by 3% and was reduced to $74 million in July-February 2021-22 from $76 million during the same period of the last fiscal year. Exports of insurance and pension services, and financial services dropped by 10% and 5%, respectively, during the period under review. Pakistan’s total services exports were recorded $5.937 billion during last fiscal year (2020-21) with an increase of 9.19% against the preceding year of 2019-20.