Abdul Razak Dawood, Prime Minister’s Adviser on Trade and Investment, expressed on Friday the hope that the country’s information and communication technology (ICT) exports would cross the $2 billion mark in the 2020-21 Financial Year (FY)
“ICT exports will soon become a very important sector of total exports to Pakistan,” he said.
He was also told that between July and December 2020, imports of services declined by 15.7 percent to $ 3,821 billion compared to July and December 2019.
Abdul Razak Dawood was told that there was substantial growth in insurance and pension services, which grew by 21%, financial services by 26%, telecommunications and ICT services by 40 percent and other business services by 40 percent (like).
The advisor was told that Pakistan’s total exports of services amounted to $2.844 billion over the period from July to December 2020, compared to $2.835 billion over the same period in the previous year.
He was also informed that exports of travel and transport services were adversely affected due to the COVID-19 pandemic, showing negative growth of 28 percent and 18 percent, respectively.
However, after the pandemic subsides, these industries are likely to change. Razak Dawood noted with satisfaction that Pakistan’s exports of services gradually turned around during the period July to December 2020.
He said that by enabling supply chains and e-commerce, services connect countries to the international trading system.
He said that in daily life, services play an important role. In both domestic and international economies, they have a central position and account for the bulk of global foreign direct investment (FDI) and trade, he observed.
In his opinion, ‘Telecommunications and ICT’ services accounted for the most important increase in exports of services, which rose by 40 percent to $958 million between July and December 2020 compared to $684 million in the same period of the previous year.
Razak Dawood noted with satisfaction that, during the first six months of the current financial year, the trade balance in the services sector improved significantly.
During July to December 2020, the trade balance stood at -977 million dollars, compared to -1.697 million dollars in the same timeframe in the previous year, showing an increase of 42%.
