Information technology services export shows over 5 pc growth

Pakistan earned $1,151.956 million by providing different information technology (IT) services to various countries during the first five months of the current fiscal year 2023-24. This shows a growth of 5.89 percent as compared with the $1,087.929 million earned through the provision of services during the corresponding months of the last fiscal year 2022-23, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported. During the months under review, the export of computer services grew by 8.17 percent as it surged from US $864.429 million last year to US $935.016 million during July-November 2023. Among the computer services, the exports of software consultancy services witnessed an increase of 46.67 percent, from $1.710 million to $2.508 million this year while the export of hardware consultancy services also surged by 4.15 percent, from $318.041 million to $331.231 million. The export of repair and maintenance services however decreased by 40.74 percent from $1.485 million to $0.880 million whereas the export and imports of computer software services surged by 4.05 percent, from $239.473 mil¬lion to $249.179 million. Meanwhile, the export of information services during the months under review dipped by 22.91 percent from $1.790 million to $1.380 million. Among the information services, the exports of information-related services increased by 12.37 per cent, from $0.485 million to $0.545 million whereas the exports of news agency services however decreased by 36.02 percent, from $1.305 million to $0.835 million. The export of telecommunication services dipped by 2.77 percent as these went down from $221.710 million to $215.560 million, the data revealed. Among the telecommunication services, the export of call center services increased by 11.11 percent during the months as its exports increased from $87.327 million to $97.026 million. In contrast, the export of other telecommunication services witnessed a decrease of 11.798 percent, from $134.383 million to $118.534 million during this year, the PBS data revealed.