Plan launched to hike IT exports to $18bn in five years

ISLAMABAD: The government on Thursday launched ‘Unlocking Pakistan’s IT Potential” aiming to increase Information Technology (IT) exports up to $10-18 billion in the next five years till 2028.

Caretaker Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunications Dr. Umar Saif successfully unveiled the nation’s first ever IT and ITeS Export Strategy to increase Pakistan’s IT exports, up to $10 billion in the next three years. Speaking as the chief guest at the launching ceremony at a local hotel in Islamabad on Thursday, Dr. Umar Saif said the Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB), under the Ministry of IT and Telecommunication (MoITT) in collaboration with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), and other international partners, including faculty from the University of Oxford, developed the strategy which was closely aligned with the government’s vision.

After the launch, the caretaker minister talked to the media and stated that there was spectrum of 300MHz available that could be offered to improve network issues. He said the launching of 5G was given a timeframe of 10 months out of which two months had passed and they were making efforts to provide an enabling environment for launching 5G. He said that the Cyber Security policy was in place and it would be operationalised to protect the data and security of citizens.

Dr. Umar Saif said that ICT was the only key to open the door to stabilising and strengthen Pakistan’s economy. “The Special Investment Facilitation Council has a significant role in enabling the sector and removing departmental bottlenecks. The forum of SIFC is paving the way for foreign direct investment in Pakistan.”

Highlighting the strategy to increase ICT exports, Dr. Umar Saif said that according to official figures, IT exports were $ 2.6 billion. “We will add another 200,000 skilled people to the existing IT workforce, which would increase exports to $5 billion. Similarly, allowing IT companies to keep dollars (Dollar retention facility) will increase exports by one billion dollars, while the establishment of The Pakistan Startup Fund will increase the total volume of IT exports by another $1 billion to help it meet the target of $10 billion.”

Talking about the key points of the report, Dr Umar Saif said that the report confirms that there is a substantial opportunity for Pakistan to grow its IT/ITeS export revenues to $10-$18 bn by 2028 and would make Pakistan a global IT hub, with a commensurate increase in the domestic industry to over $6bn per annum. This is particularly the case in 5 priority IT/ITeS market segments, and within those, 12 priority sub-segments for the Pakistan IT/ITeS industry which have been identified as having a combination of a high global market growth rate, significant global market size and a large part of the global market available to exploit as there are relatively few established players.

Additionally, an increase of activity, capacity, and capability of the IT/ITeS industry will have spin-off benefits for associated industries and the economy at large – for example e-Commerce, Financial Services, or the provision of public services (e-Government). Growth in Pakistan’s IT/ITeS exports will result from the global growth in IT markets, and to support this, the country needs to undertake a significant training and skills initiative over the next five years. However, the export market growth will be sub-optimal if the macro-conditions in the country are not also made more favorable -- if this is not done, it is likely the level of ambition for IT/ITeS exports will not be met.

UK’s Deputy High Commissioner Andrew Dalgleish said that there was enormous potential for creating linkages in areas of IT and Artificial Intelligence between the two countries. He stressed the need for placing required regulatory regime to promote ties between the two sides.