“FBR policies are an obstacle to an increase in the number of IT exports and freelancers Performance to get export remittances”
Development Fund and Policy Committee of MOITT Approves budget For USF & Ignite
Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunications Syed Amin-Ul-Haque has said that Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) policies and some rules of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) are hindering the growth of IT exports in the country and increasing export remittances through freelancers, due to which it is feared that local talent may be working here but by operating its own company from another country. The country may be getting all the foreign exchange and credit of IT exports. He said this while presiding over a meeting of the Policy Committee and Research and Development Fund here on Monday. The meeting approved in principle a budget of Rs. 32.13 billion for the Universal Service Fund, a subsidiary of the Ministry of IT, for the financial year 2022/23 and Rs. 3.75 billion for the National Technology Fund (Ignite). Harris Mahmood Chaudhary, Chief Executive Officer, USF, and Asim Shahryar, Chief Executive Officer, Ignite briefed the meeting on the performance of their respective organizations and details regarding the amount allocated in the budget. On the occasion, Federal Minister for IT & Telecom Syed Amin-Ul-Haque said that USF has done record work for providing broadband services in the last 4 years. “In the 13 years from 2006 to 2019, the number of USF projects was limited to 59, after which directives were issued to a speed-up number of projects and increase the performance, as a result, 65 Broadband Service and OFC projects were launched from 2019 to date. Which is a record itself” he added. Syed Amin-Ul-Haque said that as a result of Telecom Policies and the provision of broadband services to un-served and under-served areas, the number of telecom subscribers has reached a record level of 193 million by May 30, 2022. Similarly, the number of 3G and 4G subscribers in the country has crossed 114 million while the number of subscribers using broadband services has reached 117 million. Haque further stated that the FBR policies were an impediment to the increase in the number of IT exports and freelancers and export remittances, due to which software companies and freelancers were thinking of shifting their business to other countries. This would be dangerous because our talent would be used here but the benefits and credit would go to another country, there is no reason why we can get billions of dollars worth of foreign exchange from the IT Sector. “It is necessary to relax strict conditions including tax enforcement and give maximum relaxation to the IT industry and Freelancers, otherwise, it is feared that if IT companies and freelancers are not given facilities including tax incentives, the industry will shut down soon”. The meeting was attended by Secretary IT Mohsin Mushtaq, Additional Secretary Finance, Member Telecom and other officials.
