Pakistan’s IT sector is in an uproar after the government unveiled its 2024-25 budget, with industry leaders expressing deep disappointment and concerns.
The Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA) Chairman, Muhammad Zohaib Khan, slammed the budget for completely overlooking the IT industry’s proposals despite repeated assurances. He further warned that the increased income tax burden on salaried professionals will exacerbate the brain drain of skilled workers, a problem already plaguing the sector.
Ali Ihsan, P@SHA’s Senior Vice Chairman, criticized the lack of stakeholder consultation and emphasized the IT sector’s critical role in boosting exports, managing the current account deficit, generating employment, and attracting foreign direct investment (FDI).
Zohaib Khan highlighted the existing shortage of skilled workforce in the rapidly growing IT sector. He argued that instead of neglecting the industry as a whole and focusing solely on government projects, the budget should allocate resources to develop and support the human resource pool.
P@SHA also criticized the budget’s failure to address their proposals for industry growth. They raised concerns about the allocation of 79 billion PKR primarily directed towards government projects and IT parks, which neglects individual IT companies.
Taxation measures were another point of contention. P@SHA lamented the lack of solutions for challenges faced with remote worker tax regimes and highlighted the counterproductive increase in import duties on equipment and GST on hardware. This contradicts, according to Khan, the Ministry of IT & Telecom’s claims of supporting IT investment and exports.
P@SHA leaders demanded clarification and amendments in the finance bill to ensure continued growth for Pakistan’s IT industry. They emphasized the budget’s failure to fulfill government promises and called it a “consultation-less” approach that leaves the industry vulnerable in a highly competitive global market.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of our Editors.
