April IT exports soar 62% to $310mn on strong UAE demand

Pakistan's highly prospective information technology (IT) exports shot up  62% year-on-year (YoY) to a staggering $310 million in April 2024, fired up by an upsruge in demand and the easing of foreign currency retention limits by the central bank.

The monthly IT exports also saw an uptick of 1% from March, which was the previous highest at $306 million. "This is the highest ever export number in a single month, with the previous highest being $306 million in March 2024," brokerage Topline Securities said in a note. 

"These monthly IT exports in April are higher than the last 12-month average of $245 million."

Last month, exports in the IT sector surged past the 12-month average of $245 million as well.

As per the brokerage house, three factors mainly pushed the YoY increase in IT exports: the expansion of IT export corporations in the Gulf countries, specially Saudi Arabia; the stability of the Pakistani rupee and the central bank’s relaxation of the retention limit in Exporters’ Specialised Foreign Currency Accounts, by enhancing it from 35% to 50%.

According to a local media report, the net IT exports peaked at above $275 million dollars in April 2024, recording a 68% YoY boost and surpassing the average of $214 million during the last 12 months. 

While, the net IT exports jacked up by 20% YoY to $2.28 billion the first 10 months of the fiscal year 2024, wherein the exports reached $2.59 billion.

In 10MFY24, IT exports clocked in at $2.59 billion, up by 21 percent year-on-year compared to $2.14 billion recorded in 10MFY23. 

The higher retention facility of 50 percent was introduced by the caretaker government of Pakistan. At that time, the then caretaker IT minister had stated that this facility would boost IT exports by $1.0 billion on top of $2.6 billion recorded in FY23.

"However, this target of $3.5-3.6 billion is not likely to be achieved in FY24, with IT exports set to close in the region of $3.1-3.2 billion," the brokerage said.