Karachi March 20 2024: Pakistan earned USD 257 million by providing different Information Technology (IT) services in various countries during the month of February 2024, according to data released by State Bank of Pakistan.
This shows an increase of 31.8 percent as compared to USD 195 million earned through provision of Technology services during the same month of last year.
“We have achieved 13 out of 15 important targets for the promotion of the IT & Telecom sector in a short period of 5 months in the caretaker set-up. The forum of SIFC will prove to be a great support for the upcoming elected government in the process of building and developing the country, and the elected government will also reap the benefits of the measures we have taken during the caretaker period.” Says Caretaker IT minister few days ago while addressing a Town Hall meeting during his visit to the Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA) office.
Dr. Umar Saif further said that, to facilitate IT exporters and boost exports of IT and IT-enabled services, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has increased the permissible retention limit from 35% to 50% of their export proceeds in the Exporters’ Specialized Foreign Currency Accounts (ESFCAs).
However, technology exports are down 3 percent when compared with the exports of the previous month and 15 percent lower than all-time high value of USD 303 million reached in December 2023.
Overall, during the period from July 2022 to February 2024 the Information Technology exports increased by 14.9 percent to USD 1,977 million when compared with exports of USD 1,720 million during the corresponding period last year.
