ISLAMABAD: Caretaker Dr. Umar Saif, Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunications, stated that the presence of the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) is resulting in an increase in foreign direct investment (FDI) and determining the speed of the country’s development.
Addressing a Town Hall meeting during his visit to the Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA) office, Dr. Saif stated, “We have achieved 13 out of 15 essential milestones for the advancement of the IT & Telecom sector in a short time of 5 months in the caretaker setup. The SIFC forum will be a wonderful assistance for the forthcoming elected government in the process of establishing and expanding the country.
Ms. Aysha Morani, Additional Secretary MOITT, Muhammad Zohaib Khan, Chairman P@SHA, Nadeem Malik, General Secretary P@SHA, and representatives from the IT industry attended the occasion.
Dr. Umar Saif went on to say that in order to help IT exporters and grow exports of IT and IT-enabled services, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has raised the allowable retention level in Exporters’ Specialized Foreign Currency Accounts (ESFCAs) from 35% to 50%.
“We worked with the SIFC and the State Bank to make a significant policy intervention, allowing IT companies to keep 50% of their export revenue in dollars in an account in Pakistan and make their international expenses without any restrictions from this amount,” he went on to say.
He stated that this move, which allows for the retention of 50% in dollars, has raised the country’s IT exports by 32% in the last 60 days.
Furthermore, Dr. Umar Saif stated that ICT export remittances climbed by US$ 64 million (8.99%) to US$ 1.455 billion between July and December 2023 of FY2023-24, compared to US$ 1.335 billion recorded for the same period last year.
