Govt to Setup System to Keep Dollars in Pakistan for IT Companies: IT Minister

Caretaker Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Dr Umar Saif said that the government is planning to put in place a mechanism for retaining dollars in the country, as many IT companies are parking dollars outside the country. Talking to media persons, the minister said that Pakistan’s official IT exports are $2.6 billion while the total size of the country’s IT industry is more than $4 billion. He said that IT companies have a lot of money parked outside and the government is planning to stop the flow of dollars abroad, adding that in the next few days, the government will finalize a mechanism to retain dollars. The minister also raised questions over spectrum auction in the country and said that no proper auction of spectrum was held in the last ten years. He added that a telecom tribunal in the telecom sector would be set up. He said that the government is going to launch interest interest-free loan scheme to facilitate freelancers. He further said the government is going to set up a fund for startups with the support of international companies. The government will allocate Rs. 3 billion for this fund. Dr Saif said that the infrastructure-sharing policy will be presented in the next cabinet meeting. He pointed out that National Roaming Infrastructure has been set up and National Roaming will start on national highways in two months. On national highways, users will have the freedom to use different mobile networks, said the IT minister.