PM Imran Khan approves historic package for IT sector

Islamabad: Prime Minister has approved a historic package including landmark incentives for the Information Technology (IT) sector at the Ministry of Information Technology’s (MoIT) request.  

In an executive meeting on Tuesday, the PM approved the package, especially tending to freelancers, IT companies and start-ups in particular. Officials of the Ministry of IT & Telecommunication, the Pakistan Software Export Board, the State Bank of Pakistan, the Federal Board of Revenue, the Special Technology Zone Authority and Ignite National Technology Fund also attended the meeting.

The Information Technology Minister Ameen-ul-Haq, in a statement on Tuesday, said that he is thankful to the PM and Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin for the approval of the package and the PM’s unprecedented support of the IT sector of the country.

The long outstanding issue of easy transactions of Foreign Currency has also been addressed as Specialized Foreign Currency accounts for IT Companies and Freelancers will be introduced to meet their operational needs. In a historic move, PM has directed to allow IT Companies and Freelancers to retain 100% amount of remittances received through proper banking channels, without any compulsion to convert them into PKR.

Recommendations of the Pakistan Technology Startup Fund for the creation of a public-private partnership venture capital fund were also approved by the Prime Minister.