Islamabad, Oct 21: IT Exports Surge by 42% in September 2024. According to the most recent data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Monday, the nation’s export remittances for information technology and IT-enabled services (ITeS), which include computer and call center services, increased by 42% to $292 million in September 2024 from $206 million in the same period the previous year.
Technology exports accounted for 44% of total services exports on September 24, up 42% year over year but down 2% month over month. Technology exports increased 34% to $876 million in the first quarter of fiscal year 2024–25 from $656 million in the first quarter of FY24.
IT export remittances increased by 24% from $2.596 billion in fiscal year 2022–2023 to an all-time high of $3.223 billion in fiscal year 2023–2024. Shaza Fatima Khawaja, Minister of State for IT and Telecommunication, explained that the year-over-year increase in IT exports is caused by three factors: (i) the expansion of the clientele of IT export companies worldwide, particularly in the GCC region; (ii) the State Bank of Pakistan’s relaxation of the permissible retention limit.
Which increased it from 35 percent to 50 percent in the Exporters’ Specialized Foreign Currency Accounts; and (iii) the stability of the PKR, which encourages IT exporters to return a larger percentage of their profits to Pakistan.
A survey conducted by the Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA) found that 62% of IT firms have specialized foreign exchange accounts. The addition of a new Equity Investment Abroad (EIA) category by SBP in July 2024, expressly for IT companies focused on exports, was a significant move.
IT exporters can now use up to 50% of their profits from specialist foreign currency accounts to purchase interest (shareholding) in overseas companies. IT exporters will feel even more confident sending money back to Pakistan as a result of this change.
