Pakistan’s IT and IT-enabled Services (ITeS) export remittances fell by 3% in the first ten months of the current fiscal year 2022-23, totaling $2.133 billion, compared to $2.199 billion in the same time last year.
According to official data, the sector’s export remittances declined by almost 23% year on year (YoY) and stayed at $191 million in April 2023 compared to $2249 million in April 2022.
Month on month, the sector’s export remittances fell by 15% to $224 million in March 2023 from $224 million in February 2023.
IT and ITeS export remittances, which include telecommunications, computer, and information services, achieved an all-time high of $2.618 billion in fiscal year 2022, a 47.43 percent increase from $2.108 billion in fiscal year 2021.
The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunications anticipated that the $5 billion objective for IT exports will be met by June 2023. However, it had also warned the government that if agreed-upon incentives are not implemented, regulations are inconsistent, and tax and banking concerns are not resolved, the telecom sector’s exports and remittances may suffer, jeopardising its digital goal.
The National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunications was recently informed that Pakistan’s IT exports exceed $5 billion, yet only $2.5 billion is registered.
The standstill of IT exports and the possibility of a contraction have caused deep anxieties and trepidation in the IT industry, since IT and ITeS industry export remittances have declined, according to Muhammad Zohaib Khan, chairman of Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA).
Khan stated that the FBR, SBP, SECP, TDAP, and PSEB should collaborate and that P@SHA is ready to assist them in aligning foreign exchange, taxation, company legislation, export, and investment policies with international best practices.
This year, Pakistani IT exports are expected to be in the $2.5-$2.6 billion range, which can easily be boosted to the psychological mark of $5 billion in the next two years if government policies turn business-friendly and focus on ease of doing business (EODB) parameters, on which Pakistan ranks abysmally low at 108th, he added.
