Caretaker Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunications, Dr. Umar Saif has said that the presence of the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) is leading to increase in foreign direct investment (FDI) and setting the pace of the country’s development.
Addressing a Town Hall meeting during his visit to the Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA) office, Dr. Saif said, “We have achieved 13 out of 15 important targets for the promotion of the IT & Telecom sector in a short period of 5 months in the caretaker set-up. The forum of SIFC will prove to be a great support for the upcoming elected government in the process of building and developing the country, and the elected government will also reap the benefits of the measures we have taken during the caretaker period.”
Ms. Aysha Morani Additional Secretary MOITT, Muhammad Zohaib Khan Chairman P@SHA, Nadeem malik, General Secretary P@SHA and representative from IT Industry attended the event.
Dr. Umar Saif further said that, to facilitate IT exporters and boost exports of IT and IT-enabled services, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has increased the permissible retention limit from 35% to 50% of their export proceeds in the Exporters’ Specialized Foreign Currency Accounts (ESFCAs).
“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 further explained.
He said that with this decision, allowing the retention of 50 percent in dollars, the country’s IT exports have increased by 32 percent in the last 60 days.
Additionally, Dr. Umar Saif highlighted that ICT export remittances have increased by US$ 64 million (8.99%) to US$ 1.455 billion during July to December 2023 of FY2023-24, compared to US$ 1.335 billion reported for the same period last year. In December 2023, he mentioned that ICT services export remittances surged to US$ 303 million, marking a remarkable increase of 22.67% compared to US$ 247 million in December 2022.
Compared to the previous month of November 2023, ICT services export remittances increased by US$ 44 million in December 2023, representing a month-to-month increase of 16.99%, he added.
Dr. Umar Saif highlighted that the establishment of the Telecom Tribunal fulfills a longstanding demand of the telecom sector. The specialized Tribunal will now handle telecom sector disputes and cases instead of the High Courts, aiming to expedite the resolution of legal issues and facilitate rapid progress in the telecom sector.
According to the minister, the Ministry of Law will nominate the chairperson and members of the Tribunal. The Chairperson must be a Judge of the High Court or a lawyer with 15 years of experience, he said. Similarly, the Tribunal will have 2-member technocrats, whose number may be increased or decreased from time to time.—APP
