ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday supported the idea of a fixed tax regime for the IT sector in the upcoming budget and also constituted a committee in this regard.

Chairing a meeting, which was attended by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and IT Minister Syed Amin-ul Haque, the prime minister also approved a $4.5 billion IT export target for 2023-24.

Among others, the meeting was also participated by the State Bank governor, Federal Board of Rev­enue chairman, P@SHA chairman Muhammad Zoh­aib Khan, PTCL President and CEO Hatem Bamatraf and the senior executives of Jazz and Telenor.

The meeting also accorded a principle app­roval for providing special incentives to new startups and special concessions for the promotion of business and trade through modern technology.

The prime minister dir­ected the relevant autho­rities to include mega ince­ntives to boost IT exports and supported the proposals forwarded by the ministry calling it “a big package for the IT sector”.

The prime minister highlighted that the government would distribute 100,000 laptops among the youth on merit.

Published in Dawn, June 7th, 2023