ISLAMABAD          -       Pakistan earned $1,333.230 million by providing different information technology (IT) services to various countries during the first six months of the current fiscal year 2022-23. This shows a growth of 2.41 percent as compared to $1,301.880 million earned through the provision of services during the corresponding months of the fiscal year 2021-22, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported.

During JulyDecember (2022-23), the export of computer services grew by 3.15 percent as it surged from $1,033.280 million last fiscal year to $1,065.810 million this year. Among the computer services, the exports of software consultancy services witnessed an increase of 6.34 percent, from $368.334 million to $391.697 million while the exports of hardware consultancy services also rose by 209.95 percent from $1.095 million to $3.394 million.

The export and import of computer software-related services surged by 11.29 percent, from $271.697 million to $302.376 million whereas the exports of repair and maintenance services increased to $1.530 million from $0.754 million. In addition, the exports of other computer services witnessed a decrease of 6.28 percent, going down from $391.400 million to $366.813 million. Meanwhile, the export of information services during the period under review declined by 22.97 percent, going down from $2.830 million to $2.180 million. Among the information services, the exports of news agency services decreased by 22.36 percent, from $1.923 million to $1.493 million whereas the exports of other information services also decreased by 24.26 percent, from $0.907 million to $0.687 million.

The export of telecommunication services also witnessed a nominal decrease of 0.20 percent as these went down from $265.770 million to $265.240 million during the months under review, the data revealed. Among the telecommunication services, the export of call centre services increased by 5.22 percent during the period as its exports increased from $101.694 million to $107.006 million whereas the export of other telecommunication services decreased by 3.56 percent, from $164.076 million to $158.234 million during the period under review, the PBS data revealed.