Govt sets ambitious IT export target of $5bn

Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication (MoITT) Syed Aminul Haque announced yesterday that the target for the inflow of IT export remittances for 2020-23 has been set at $5 billion.

While responding to various questions fielded to him in the Senate on Tuesday, the MoITT minister mentioned that the nation’s IT exports had registered an impressive boost of 40% over the past six months.

He informed the house that Pakistan would start assembling mobile phones and their accessories soon and a policy had been approved by the Economic Coordination Committee and the cabinet.

“IT sector has the potential to increase its exports to over $10 billion,” he said. “Pakistan’s IT industry is evolving rapidly, earning foreign exchange, creating high-paying jobs, improving national productivity and quality of life through innovative technological solutions.”

He noted that the nation’s IT potential was reflected by the fact that it recorded remittances from the export of IT and IT-enabled services (ITeS) amounting to $1.23 billion with a growth rate of 23.71% in the fiscal year of 2019-20.

Further lauding Pakistan’s IT sector, the minister highlighted that North America, the UAE, and the UK were currently the largest markets for our IT industry.

“Pakistan’s IT sector exports products and services to over 100 countries and the world’s largest entities are among its regular clients,” he told the Senate. “It is the largest net service export industry in Pakistan.”

The minister underlined that Pakistan’s IT sector had enough room to provide state-of-the-art IT products and services. On the other hand, it has ample potential to significantly boost foreign exchange earnings for the country.

He added that the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) was in the process of revising quality of service and rollout obligations to improve communication services all over Pakistan.