The Senate Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunication, in a meeting on Tuesday, recommended for financial support for bloggers who could play vital role in promotion of the digital economy as well as portray a positive image of the country.
The committee met with Rubina Khalid in the chair where Senator Faisal Javed recommended that government should give incentives to bloggers which would help in economic growth.
“Government needs to give financial support to bloggers”, said Javed, adding that phenomenal growth has been observed in the number of bloggers who could portray a positive image of the country.
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Shoaib Ahmad Siddiqui Secretary Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication said that IT & IT-enabled services (ITes) export have surged to $550.503 million at a growth rate of 24.71 percent during the first six months of the fiscal year 2019-20 (July-December), compared to $441.435 million during the same period of last year.
However, the chairperson asked how digital economy could be promoted when the government has made the common man’s access to mobile phones difficult by imposing taxes on the import when there is no manufacturing plant in the country.
Siddiqui said that the government has floated Expression of Interest (EOI) for bringing international payment gateway to promote electronic and digital money transactions. He said that State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) will give incentives to international payment gateways to promote information technology sector exports, freelancing and the digital economy.