The Ministry of IT&T stated that the IT & ITeS industry had realised export remittances of $1.333B from July to December, which it claimed to be the “highest among all services”
In response to a question posed in the National Assembly by MNA Dr. Mahreen Razzaq Bhutto, the Information Technology and Telecommunication Ministry asserted that Pakistan’s IT and IT-enabled services (ITeS) industry significantly contributes to exports and foreign exchange earnings.
Dr. Bhutto had questioned the IT&T minister regarding the current amount of the nation’s annual IT exports.
In response, the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication stated that the IT & ITeS industry had realised export remittances of $1.333 billion from July to December FY2022-23, which it claimed to be the “highest among all services” at 37.8% of the total export of services and a 2.4% increase over the $1.302 billion reported for the same period last year.
In comparison to remittance receipts of $2.107 billion in FY2020-21, information and communication technology export remittances increased by 24% during FY2021-22 to reach $2.615 billion. After the textile industry, the IT & ITeS sector appears to have produced the largest trade surplus in services and the second-highest in goods and services.
The IT & ITeS industry realised a trade surplus of $1.17 billion (87.47% of the total ICT export remittances) from July to December of FY2022-23 to help the nation overcome its foreign exchange shortage. Comparing this to the trade surplus of $972 million for the same period in FY2021-22, it shows an increase of 19.96%.
The IT & ITeS exports have experienced a phenomenal increase over the last five years of 178% at a compound annual growth rate of 30%, the highest among all local service industries and surpassing the textile sector’s 148% growth rate.
According to the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication report, citing the Kearney’s Global Services Location Index, Pakistan is the second most financially attractive location in the world for IT & ITeS outsourcing.
In contrast, Pakistan is ranked as the third-largest supplier of digital labour by the International Labour Organization (ILO), which includes clerical and data entry services, creative and multimedia services, professional services, sales and marketing support services, software development and technology services, writing and translation services.
Pakistan ranks the ILO as the second-largest provider of digital labour for software development and other technological services.
With 57% of the export remittances received, the US is the largest market for the IT & ITeS sector’s services, followed by the UK with 8%, the UAE with 7%, Singapore with 5%, and Ireland with 4%. 97% of export remittances for IT & ITeS go to the top 20 export destinations, with the remaining 3% going to the other nations and territories.