Daily Times

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.

He said this during his visit to Daftarkhwan where the Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA) Townhall held an interactive session on Saturday. He said: “We have achieved 13 out of 15 important targets for the promotion of the IT & Telecom sector in a short period of 5 to 6 months in the caretaker set-up.”

The forum of SIFC would prove to be a great support for the upcoming elected government in the process of building and developing the country, and the elected government would also reap the benefits of the measures taken during the caretaker period, he added. Umar Saif said 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). He said, “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 said that with this decision, allowing the retention of 50 percent in dollars, the country’s IT exports had increased by almost 32 percent in the last 60 days.

Dr Umar Saif highlighted that ICT export remittances had 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 and added that this specialized approach would lead to faster and more efficient resolution of disputes, contributing to the overall advancement of the telecom industry.

He said, “We are confident that with the presence of the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), the upcoming government will also be able to make timely decisions for the country’s development and public interests because we must not compromise on our economic stability and public interests. We need to avoid departmental obstacles.