Pakistan has recorded a 4.45% increase in earnings from providing various Information Technology (IT) services to different countries, generating US $892.972 million in the first four months of the current fiscal year 2023-24. This growth is compared to the US $854.918 million earned during the same period in the previous fiscal year 2022-23, as reported by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
The export of computer services saw a notable growth of 4.81%, rising from US $688.078 million last year to US $721.162 million during July-October 2023. Within computer services, exports of software consultancy services increased significantly by 93.76%, reaching US $1.955 million compared to US $1.009 million the previous year. Additionally, hardware consultancy services experienced a 1.13% surge, going from US $253.543 million to US $256.408 million.
Other notable increases in the IT sector include a 3.16% rise in the export of repair and maintenance services from US $0.443 million to US $0.457 million. Furthermore, the export and imports of computer software services increased by 4.01%, going from US $190.228 million to US $197.862 million.
However, the export of information services during the reviewed months decreased by 25.18%, dropping from US $1.390 million to US $1.040 million. Within this category, exports of information-related services increased by 21.04%, from US $0.366 million to US $0.443 million, while news agency services witnessed a decline of 41.70%, going from US $1.024 million to US $0.597 million.
Telecommunication services exports increased by 4.45%, rising from US $165.45 million to US $170.770 million. Specifically, call centers services experienced an 8.84% increase, reaching US $75.800 million from US $69.641 million, while other telecommunication services saw a marginal decrease of 0.88%, going from US $95.809 million to US $94.790 million during the current fiscal year, according to PBS data.