{"id":36450,"date":"2026-08-25T03:36:53","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T03:36:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/?p=36450"},"modified":"2026-08-25T03:36:53","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T03:36:53","slug":"pakistan-it-exports-eye-the-next-leap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/?p=36450","title":{"rendered":"Pakistan: IT exports eye the next leap"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Pakistan\u2019s IT exports have started FY27 on a strong footing, maintaining the momentum built over the previous year. Export receipts stood at USD417 million in July-26, up 18 percent year-on-year and broadly unchanged from USD416 million in June. This is also the second-highest monthly export figure in the recent series, after the USD437 million recorded in Dec-25.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bigger story is no longer an occasional monthly spike. IT exports have now consistently stayed above the levels seen a year earlier. On a trailing 12-month basis, exports reached USD4.66 billion, up 20 percent from $3.87 billion in the corresponding period last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That makes technology one of the few export segments where Pakistan continues to build scale without a large corresponding import bill. For an economy repeatedly constrained by foreign exchange availability, the sector\u2019s high net-export content matters as much as the headline growth rate. Unlike merchandise exports, where imported raw materials and energy can take away a significant part of the gross receipts, IT and IT-enabled services generate a much larger net addition to the external account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The importance of this growth is also visible in the services balance, where stronger ICT and other business services exports are helping offset part of the widening goods trade deficit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FY26 already provided a strong base. ICT export remittances reached around USD4.6 billion, increasing by 20.6 percent from USD3.8 billion in FY25.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Policy facilitation has helped. IT exporters can retain up to 50 percent of their export proceeds in foreign currency accounts, while banking procedures for export receipts and international payments have been eased.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dedicated banking desks, simpler documentation, and quicker processing of transactions through Exporters\u2019 Special Foreign Currency Accounts have reduced some of the frictions that previously encouraged exporters and freelancers to keep receipts outside the formal system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is now an even bigger policy ambition around the sector. Different official targets are floating around: the Uraan Pakistan framework sets a USD10 billion IT-export target by FY29, implying annual growth of nearly 30 percent from current levels, while more recent government statements envision a much larger ICT export base – USD30 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The IT ministry has separately outlined a USD25 billion ICT target for 2030, including USD15.3 billion from IT and IT-enabled services and USD9.8 billion from telecommunications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The targets look ambitious relative to the present base, but the ecosystem is attracting greater attention from global technology firms. Google\u2019s decision to establish its first local office in Pakistan in Aug-26 is an important signal in that regard, bringing one of the world\u2019s largest technology companies into the market with a more formal presence. Its expansion has also been linked with Pakistan\u2019s digital-export ambitions through an agreement covering digital skills, AI, innovation, and export competitiveness, including Google Career Certificates, greater access to AI tools, and plans for an AI Center of Excellence in Islamabad. A joint task force is also expected to prepare a roadmap for IT exports and competitiveness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The challenge, therefore, is shifting. Pakistan has demonstrated that IT exports can grow at around 20 percent annually. But moving from roughly USD 4.6 billion to double-digit billions will require more than additional freelancers and low-end outsourcing. The next leg has to come from higher-value software engineering, AI services, cloud and cybersecurity, gaming, product companies, and scalable technology businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

July\u2019s numbers are encouraging because they suggest that last year\u2019s growth has carried into FY27. Sustaining that pace is achievable. Accelerating it toward the government\u2019s much larger targets will depend on whether Pakistan can move up the value chain rather than simply sell more of the same services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reference Link:- https:\/\/www.brecorder.com\/news\/40436348<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pakistan\u2019s IT exports have started FY27 on a strong footing, maintaining the momentum built over the previous year. Export receipts stood at USD417 million in July-26, up 18 percent year-on-year and broadly unchanged from USD416 million in June. This is also the second-highest monthly export figure in the recent series, after the USD437 million recorded […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33315,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[2076,9801,32476,25841,3128,483,29754,4435],"class_list":["post-36450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-aside","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sample-category","tag-economy-2","tag-export-3","tag-fy2027","tag-high-tech-6","tag-it-2","tag-pakistan-2","tag-stratups","tag-youth-2","post_format-post-format-aside"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36450"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36450\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36451,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36450\/revisions\/36451"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/33315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}