The first month of this fiscal year (2022-2023) has been great for Pakistan’s IT export sector as it earned $199.100 million by providing different Information Technology (IT) services in various countries largely comprising of Freelancer’s payments. This shows a growth of 1.58 percent as compared with the $ 195.996 million earned through the provision of services during the corresponding period of the last fiscal year 2021-22, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported.
During the month under review, computer services grew by 5.77 percent as they surged from $150.456 million last year to $159.140 million during July 2022. The computer services exports of software consultancy services witnessed a decrease of 27.40 percent, from $0.219 million to $0.159 million this year while the export of hardware consultancy services however increased by 8.77 percent, from $53.830 million to the $58.551 million
Pakistan’s Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sectors are expected to continue getting this growth as it already has witnessed remarkable growth over the past decade, boasting an average annual revenue growth rate of 20-30 percent. A report by AlphaBeta has found that if leveraged fully, digital technologies could create up to Rs9.7 trillion ($59.7 billion) worth of economic value annually in Pakistan by 2030.
The repair and maintenance services export declined by 95.68 percent from $0.162 million to $0.007 million whereas the export and imports of computer software services witnessed an increase of 31.41 percent, from $35.039 million to $46.044 million. In addition, the exports of other computer services dipped by 11.15 percent from $61.206 million to $54.379 million.
The export of information services during the month under review also decreased by 6.45 percent going down from $0.310 million to $0.290 million. Among the information services, the exports of information-related services decreased by 2.39 percent, from $0.209 million to $0.204 million whereas the exports of other information services dipped by 14.85 percent, from $0.101 million to $0.86 million.
The export of telecommunication services also decreased by 12.29 percent as these went down from $45.230 million to $39.670 million, the data revealed. Among the telecommunication services, the export of call centers services increased by 23.90 percent during the month as its exports increased from $11.954 million to $14.811 million whereas the export of other telecommunication services decreased by 25.29 percent, from $33.276 million to $24.859 million during this year, the PBS data revealed.
Pakistan’s general IT sector went through astonishing growth over the past decade, boasting an average annual revenue growth rate of 20-30%. ICT-related exports currently exceed US$5 billion, and the Ministry of IT & Telecommunication believes the sector has the “potential to become the [nation’s] largest export industry” in the coming years. Currently, roughly 4.7% of Pakistan’s labor force is employed in the ICT sector, of which 6% – or ~200,000 workers – are women. The ICT sector also has the largest number of job vacancies, based on data from Pakistan’s leading job portal, Rozee.pk.
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