Pakistan earned US $2.593 billion by providing different Information Technology (IT) services to various countries during the first ten months of the current fiscal year 2023-24.

This shows a growth of 20.41 per cent as compared with the US $2.135 billion earned through the provision of services during the corresponding months of the last fiscal year 2022-23, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported.

During the months under review, the export of computer services grew by 24.55 per cent as it surged from US $1.729 billion last year to US $2.153 billion during July-April 2023-24.

Among the computer services, the exports of software consultancy services witnessed an increase of 10.80 per cent, from US$ 633.107 million to US$ 701.456 million this year while the export of hardware consultancy services also surged by 19.24 per cent, from US$ 4.793 million to US$ 5.715 million.

The export of repair and maintenance services however decreased by 45.69 per cent from US $2.762 million to US $1.500 million whereas the export and imports of computer software services surged by 6.77 per cent, from $489.737 million to $522.909 million.

Meanwhile, the export of information services during the months under review witnessed an increase of 105.90 per cent from US $4.240 million to US $8.730 million.

Among the information services, the exports of news agency services surged by 167.58 per cent, from US $2.505 million to US $6.730 million whereas the exports of other information-related services increased by 16.83 per cent, from US $1.735 million to US $2.027 million.

The export of telecommunication services increased by 7.04 per cent as these went up from US $402.260 million to US $430.590 million, the data revealed.

Among the telecommunication services, the export of call centres services increased by 17.59 per cent during the months as its exports increased from US $180.682 million to US $212.467 million whereas the export of other telecommunication services witnessed a decrease of 1.56 per cent, from US $221.578 million to US $218.123 million during this year, the PBS data revealed.