• The advisory council’s first meeting was place on Friday at the Ministry of IT and Telecom.
• Council members advised against additional taxes or regulations for IT, freelancers, e-commerce, and startups.
• The national exchequer will suffer losses if the IT industry’s players are not obliged to park a sizable portion of their earnings abroad

Members of the Prime Minister’s Advisory Council on IT and Digital Economy have advised the government against enacting new regulations and taxes for startups, freelancers, e-commerce, and the information technology industry out of concern that a sizable portion of their profits will be stashed abroad. The advisory council’s first meeting was place on Friday at the Ministry of IT and Telecom.

Minister of IT and Telecom Syed Aminul Haque presided over the meeting, which was also attended by Minister of Finance Miftah Ismail, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Youth Affairs Shaza Fatima, IT Secretary Mohsin Mushtaque Chandna, and others. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif recently addressed the nation, announcing that the IT industry, a crucial component of government strategy, will provide training and skill development for young people in order to fully use IT exports. The prime minister will review and approve the advisory council’s report.

To support digital transformation and export growth, council members suggested that there shouldn’t be any additional taxes or regulations for IT, freelancers, e-commerce, and startups. The national exchequer will suffer losses if the IT industry’s players are not obliged to park a sizable portion of their earnings abroad.

The government should make every effort to maintain business continuity and ease of doing business, the members added, since these sectors were the ones that would help Pakistan’s foreign currency reserves develop at the fastest rate. It should be emphasised that the telecom industry offered no budget suggestions, and instead the federal excise duty (FED) on telecom users was raised from 16 to 19.5 percent. Additionally, the regulatory fee on the import of optical fibre cable was increased from 10% to 20%, undercutting both the government-run Universal Support Fund and the private sector’s ambitions to lay fibre (USF).

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If the government intends to realise the goal of the Digital Pakistan, the deployment of optical fibre cables is a crucial step. The advisory council members emphasised the importance of maintaining continuity in government policies throughout the meeting in order to make them more appealing to both domestic and foreign businesses. Federal IT and Telecom Minister Syed Aminul Haque emphasised the need to resolve issues in the IT and telecom sector and offer the greatest amount of relief in order to advance the nation’s digital economy. He added that PM Shehbaz has demonstrated a particular interest in advancing the IT sector.

Three committees were established by the IT minister with the goals of fostering telecom sector expansion, personal data protection, and IT export promotion. Within a week, the committees will complete their recommendations, deliver their findings in reports to the advisory council’s chairman, the prime minister. In order to deliver digital solutions at the micro level, council members also reviewed CPEC (China-Pakistan Economic Corridor) initiatives relating to IT and telecom as well as broadband services in the unserved and underserved areas.

There was a lot of discussion about proposals put up by the IT and telecom players, including how to grow the digital economy by identifying major growth areas, obstacles to growth, and solutions to those obstacles. The advisory council emphasised the need for continuity in government policy but also noted that the industry and investors were uncertain as a result of the shifting circumstances, which harmed attempts to advance the digital economy. It was stated that the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) failed to provide the necessary assistance. In order to solve the problems facing the IT and telecom industries, make the sector more effective, and issue the necessary directives, the advisory council was established, according to IT Minister Haque.

The minister said, “There is no reason the sector cannot become the backbone of the economy and lead the country out of the economic crisis when all stakeholders/institutions are on board and concerns are resolved in a timely manner. To promote IT exports and advance the digital economy, it is crucial to offer relief to the IT and telecom sector.

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