ISLAMABADI: Over the past 5 years, a phenomenal upward growth of 178 percent in Information Technology and ITeS exports has been witnessed at compound annual growth rate of 30 percent, the highest growth rate in comparison to all other local industries in services.
According to the Economic Survey 2022-23 launched by Minister for Finance and Revenue Ishaq Dar here on Thursday Pakistan’s IT and ITeS industry is exporting its services to 170+ countries and territories.
The USA is the largest market accounting for 54.54 percent of the export remittances receipts, followed by the UK (7.99 percent), UAE (6.91 percent), Ireland (6.73 percent) and Singapore (4.95 percent), respectively. The top 20 IT and ITeS export destinations accounted for 97.05 percent of export remittances, while the rest only accounted for 2.95 percent only.
Pakistani freelancers contributed foreign exchange earnings through remittances of US$ 269.8 million (ITI: US$ 156.9 million and non-ITI: US$ 112.9 million) during July-March FY2023. Pakistani freelancers are earning valuable foreign exchange and impacting remote and rural communities.
Pakistan’s IT and ITeS sector posted the largest trade surplus among all services and become the second highest across goods and service sector after textile sector.