A recent report states that Pakistan’s exports in the Information Technology industry have witnessed a slight growth of 5% in the first four months of the current financial year 2018-19 as compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.
State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), also reports that the export receipts of the highly potential sector of ICT could stretch to $355 million during the period of Jul-Oct as against $337 million in the similar period last financial year.
As compared to FY 2017 the exports have only increased to $18 million that is much lower than the recent predictions were made considering the incentives provided by the previous and the present government.
It is to be noted even though the exports of ICT services may have improved in some foreign markets but the exports’ values have grown slightly due to the impact of the exchange rate between the Rupee and US Dollar. In the last financial year, the IT exports showed a double-digit growth of 13% as it crossed crossing $1 billion mark for the first time.
However, according to various industry experts, export receipts through banking channels do not reflect the true potential of the IT sector. SBP has also introduced various measures to improve the export receipts of the IT sector through banking channels but the impact has not been realized.
Recently, SBP on the directives of the government instructed the commercial banks to ease payment options for freelancers of various services who are mainly specialist service providers in ICT related fields.
Furthermore, the government is also working towards introducing the funds transfer service, Paypal in Pakistan. The Prime Minister has also compiled a Task Force on IT and Telecom to promote the ICT sector and its exports. Through this task force, it is hoped the representatives from the IT sector will play a proactive role and make great contributions to grow the ICT sector by tapping its potential within the country and overseas.
