April 08, 2008	Tuesday	Rabi-us-Sani 1, 1429

ISLAMABAD, April 7: PC (personal computer) and server market in Pakistan declined to 9.6 per cent in 2007 from the 16.4pc recorded a year ago.

The slowdown is a matter of grave concern not only for the computer industry but also for overall growth of the country because information technology is the backbone of all formal and informal sectors of economy, said Pakistan Computer Association president Munawar Iqbal at the executive body meeting of the association. He called it a grim situation.Quoting a research report, he said the decline was because of the highly unsteady political situation during 2007. Another reason for this slowdown was imposition of 15 per cent General Sales Tax on IT goods and imports.

The PCA president said the association had drawn the attention of the previous government towards the impact of 15pc GST on computers and its components.

“The issue was raised with the then prime minister, the then IT minister and the then state finance minister, but to no avail.”

Despite assurances to provide immediate relief, nothing tangible was done to resolve the issue, he said, and added that even the Senate and the previous National Assembly had taken notice of the matter.

He said that according to latest reports published by international researchers during 2006-07, total import of PCs and servers in the country was 630,000 units, which dropped to 149,000 at the end of 2007, a decline of 40pc.

Mr Munawar Iqbal further stated that there not been imports under vigorous expansion, autonomous strengthening of infrastructure and technological upgradation programmes by the banking, financial, telecommunication and education sectors, and with the introduction of e-government, these figures would have been more depressing.

While giving a comparative analysis of the region, he said that other countries have granted a host of tariff and non-tariff concessions to this industry.

Pakistan, he said, has a 1.5pc computer density, whereas in the neighbouring countries, it was much higher. Computer density, he said, plays an important role in economic development of the country, and the government should pay special attention to this sector.

The PCA executive body also appealed to the government to abolish 15 per cent GST on import of computers and computer accessories to provide an immediate relief to common users and students.