Pakistan earns $ 1298mn from IT services' export 8 months

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan earned US $1298.080 million by providing different information technology (IT) services in various countries during the eight months of financial year 2020-21.

This shows growth of 41.43 percent as compared to US $917.840 million earned through provision of services during the corresponding period of fiscal year 2019-20, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported.

During the period under review, the computer services grew by 44.53 percent as it surged from US $708.100 million last year to US $1023.410 million during July-February (2020-21).

Among the computer services, the exports of software consultancy services witnessed increase of 25.07 percent, from US $272.922 million to US $341.352 million while the export and import of computer software related services also rose by 17.69 percent, from US $212.254 million to US $249.803 million.

The exports of hardware consultancy services dropped by 78.82 percent from, US $1.794 million to US $0.380 million whereas the exports of repair and maintenance services also decline by 70.31 percent from $1.270 million to $0.377 million.

In addition the exports of other computer services rose by 96.26 percent from US$219.860 million to US $431.498 million.

Meanwhile, the export of information services during the period under review also increased by 72.22 percent by going up from US $ 1.440 million to US $2.480 million.

Among the information services, the exports of news agency services increased by 81.03 percent, from US $ 0.780 million to US $ 1.412 million whereas the exports of other information services also increased by 61.82 percent, from US $ 0.660 million to US $ 1.068 million.

The export of telecommunication services also witnessed an increase of 30.67 percent as these went up from US $208.300 million to US $272.190 million during the financial year under review, the data revealed.

Among the telecommunication services, the export of call centre services increased by 15.37 percent during the period as its exports increased from US $77.586 million to US $89.508 million whereas the export of other telecommunication services also increased by 39.76 percent, from US $130.714 million to US $182.682 million during the period under review, the PBS data revealed.