ISLAMABAD: The IT and IT-enabled Services (ITeS) export remittances comprising computer services and call centre services increased by around six percent during the first five months (July-November) of the current fiscal year 2023-24 and remained $ 1.152 billion compared to $ 1.088 billion during the same period of last fiscal year.
The official data showed that ITeS exports remittances increased by around nine percent on a month-on-month (MoM) basis in November 2023 and remained $ 259 million compared to $ 238 million in October 2023.
On a year-on-year (YoY) basis, the sector export remittances increased by around 11 percent compared to $ 233 million in November 2022.
The ICT export remittances, including telecommunication, computer, and information services, stood at $ 2.597 billion, a negative growth rate of around one percent in the fiscal year 2022-23 compared to $ 2.619 billion in the fiscal year 2021-22.
Caretaker Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunications Dr Umar Saif recently unveiled the first-ever IT and ITeS export strategy to increase Pakistan’s IT exports, up to $ 10 billion in the next three years.
The country has the potential of increasing exports to $ 12-15 billion, according to the strategy.
Highlighting the strategy to increase ICT exports, Dr Saif said that according to the official figures, IT exports are $ 2.6 billion, and by adding another 200,000 skilled people to the existing IT workforce will increase exports to $ 5 billion.
Further, allowing IT companies to keep dollars (dollar retention facility) will increase exports by one billion dollars, while the establishment of The Pakistan Startup Fund will increase the total volume of IT exports by another $ 1 billion to help it meet the target of $ 10 billion.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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