By Syed Marwan Shah

ISLAMABAD, July 21: Pakistan is keen to further boost the Information Technology (IT) sector keeping in view the global trends, reports WealthPK.

Pakistan's IT services sector fetched $2.45 billion in exports during the fiscal year 2021, an increase of 43.27% over the previous year.

According to the World Bank, digital technologies have the potential to expand access to markets and opportunities. The World Bank's work to reduce poverty and inequality includes assisting countries in investing in IT development. Over the course of the past 15 years, digital economy has grown two and a half times faster than global GDP (gross domestic product), constituting 15.5% of global GDP.

According to Pakistan Vision 2025 and the Digital Policy of Pakistan 2018, the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry size is expected to exceed $20 billion by 2025.

An official of the Board of Investment (BoI) told WealthPK that a knowledge society and knowledge economy are emerging in which IT has assumed a central enabling role.

“Pakistan has carved out a unique position in the IT sector as a preferred source for software development, business process outsourcing (BPO), and freelance work. Pakistan was ranked fifth in freelance development in the world, and through freelancing, it brought $360 million in 2021,” he explained.

WealthPK research indicates that the government of Pakistan is keen to expand and support the IT sector. For this purpose, the government has established a Special Technology Zone Authority. The IT zones being set up under the authority are exempt from property tax, federal sales tax, and all other levies falling under the Income Tax Ordinance 2001.

According to a report of Pakistan Business Council (PBC), computer services amounted to $1.63 billion in the fiscal year 2021. Exports were about 78.6%, and imports were 82.6% of the total trade under telecommunications, computer and information services in 2021.

In addition, Pakistan ranked seventh amongst the countries that witnessed the highest growth of 36% in computer services exports between 2019 and 2020. Exports grew by 50.3% between the fiscal years 2020 and 2021, the report mentioned.

The PBC report discussed various challenges to Pakistan's IT services sector, including shortage of talent, industry-academia gap, etc. The recommendations included the need for special courts to deal with cyber-crime, special laws for IT sector, encouraging more women into the workforce, and encouraging the banking sector to lend soft loans to the IT sector.

Credits: INP-WealthPk