World Trade Organization (WTO) has noted that computer services exports from Pakistan rose by 23% in the second quarter of 2026, according to its Global Trade Outlook Update 2026 released on Thursday. The figure appears in the part of the report that describes smaller and emerging players whose computer services exports expanded rapidly, alongside Malaysia, where exports rose by 34%, and Brazil, where they rose by 13%. Pakistan therefore sits between the two in that group. The WTO said artificial intelligence (AI) is lifting trade in computer and financial services, while the impact of the Middle East conflict prevails in traditional services such as transport, tourism and construction, which explains why computer services have performed better than other parts of services trade this year.
The finding comes as the WTO sharply raised its global trade growth forecast, upgrading merchandise trade volume growth to 3.9% for 2026 and 4.1% for 2027, up from previous estimates of 1.9% and 2.6% that were projected at the start of the United States and Iran conflict in March. The report said the global economy has remained resilient, reflecting a stronger than expected surge in AI related capital investment and increased supplies of fuels and fertilizers from countries outside the Middle East. For services, the WTO revised the forecast for commercial services trade volume growth in 2026 down to 3.3% from 4.8%, and it expects growth to rebound to 6.4% in 2027, provided the conflict is resolved in a timely manner.
Pakistan was also named among the nations gaining in some ways from trade disruptions linked to the conflict. Several countries faced fuel transport disruptions because of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, and the redistribution of traffic created opportunities for other economies. The WTO said exports of sea freight transport services from Pakistan rose by 73% year on year in the first half of 2026, as transport operators benefited from increased traffic, and vessel calls at major container terminals in Karachi were still 14% higher year on year in July. On the wider services outlook, the WTO expects growth to remain below trend this year, with all services sub sectors seeing growth below the March baseline forecast, and with Europe on track to account for over half of the growth in export services.
The WTO said the AI boom and the Middle East conflict affect the services trade outlook to different degrees, which is why computer and financial services are rising while traditional services are held back. It added that continued AI investment and the broader digitization of the global economy are expected to keep merchandise trade growth above the rate of global economic growth in 2027. However, the forecast remains subject to several significant risks, and the organization warned that a slowdown or reversal of AI investment spending could have a significant impact on trade. For Pakistan, the 23% increase in computer services exports in the second quarter stands as the main figure for information technology services in the report.
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