Economic uplift
ISLAMABAD
Muhammad Zohaib Khan, Chairman of Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA), has apprised that the stagnation in IT exports – and a possible contraction on the cards – has created profound concerns & apprehensions in the IT industry as IT & ITeS industry’s export remittances shrunk by 0.5 percent to $1.94 billion in Q1 – Q3 FY23 as opposed to 47 percent average growth IT & ITeS posted for 2 consecutive years, i.e. FY21 and FY22.
Muhammad Zohaib Khan, however, added that the Pakistani IT industry has forged partnerships with the 16 economies ICT alliance of Asia-Pacific Information & Communication Technologies Alliance (APICTA) for the tangible promotion of IT & IT-enabled Services (ITeS) exports.
He was speaking on the occasion of 79th Executive Committee meeting of APICTA at Perth, Australia; where he led the Pakistani delegation which also comprised Jamil Goheer & Dr. Shoab Khan, CEC members of P@SHA.
It is pertinent to note that the combined GDP of APICTA countries runs in upwards of $30 trillion and these countries are potentially huge IT export markets for Pakistan in Asia-Pacific region & other allied countries; like China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, Japan, etc.
“One can well-imagine, if a region & its IT-alliance has a combined GDP of $30 trillion, what it can mean to a developing country like Pakistan with a population of 230.1 million and 64 percent under the age of 35” Muhammad Zohaib Khan, Chairman P@SHA.
Mr. Khan pointed out that FBR, SBP, SECP, TDAP and PSEB should work in tandem and P@SHA is all willing to assist them in aligning foreign exchange, taxation, companies’ regulations, export and investments policies with international best practices.
This year Pakistani IT exports are expected to be in the range of $2.5 – $2.6 billion; which can easily be jacked up to the psychological mark of $5 billion in a quick succession of 2 years – provided policies of the government institutions turn business-friendly and focus on ease of doing business (EODB) parameters – on which Pakistan ranks abysmally low at 108th number, he added. — DNA
