ISLAMABAD-Pakistan has spent $386.951 million by acquiring different information technology (IT) services from various countries during the fiscal year 2019-20. This shows decrease of 12.26 per cent when compared to $441.040 million spent through provision of services during the corresponding period of last fiscal year 2018-19, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported.
During the period under review, the imports of computer services witnessed nominal increase of 1.38 per cent as it surged from $319.880 million last year to $324.280 million during July-June (2019-20).
Among the computer services, the imports of software consultancy services decreased by 3.14 per cent, from $108.707 million to $105.298 million while the import of hardware consultancy services also declined by 92.50 per cent, from $0.200 million to $0.015 million.
The imports of repair and maintenance services also decline by 49.46 per cent from $1.397 million to $0.706 million whereas the export and imports of computer software services witnessed decrease of 9.52 per cent, from $180.873 million to $163.646 million. In addition the imports of other computer services rose by 90.28 per cent from US$ 28.703 million to $54.615 million. Meanwhile, the information services during the fiscal year under review decreased by 38.57 per cent by going down from $17.990 million to $11.051 million.
Among the information services, the import of news agency services also decreased by 38.60 per cent, from $17.527 million to $10.761 million whereas the imports of other information services dipped by 37.37 per cent, from $0.463 million to $0.290 million. The telecommunication services decreased by 49.97 per cent as these went down from $103.170 million to 51.620 million, the data revealed.
Among the telecommunication services, the call centres services decreased by 45.35 per cent during the period as its imports dipped from $1.334 million to $0.729 million whereas the import of other telecommunication services also decreased by 50.03 per cent, from $101.836 million to $50.891 million during the fiscal year under review, the PBS data revealed.