IT Ministry to Provide Data Collection Solutions to SIFC to Digitize Economy

The Ministry of IT and Telecommunication will provide data collection solutions to the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC).

Sources in MoITT told ProPakistani that SIFC considered various options for digitizing the economy.

The Ministry of IT was given the task of working with NITB, PITB, NADRA, and other stakeholders to create a data collection solution and give it to the federal government.

In the meeting with the Caretaker Prime Minister and later in the SIFC meeting, the Ministry of IT, Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), and State Bank presented various options regarding digitalizing the economy and expanding the tax net.

It was decided at the meeting that data collection is very important to increase the number of income tax return filers. The work of data collection will be done by FBR, while the Ministry of IT will present a data collection solution to other institutions.

It was further approved to create two task forces regarding the digitalization of the economy and a cashless economy. Realizing the importance of the IT Ministry in the digital economy, it has been decided to give it a central role in both the task forces

IT Ministry officials said that the impression that the IT Ministry will act as a data-gathering agency is wrong. The Ministry will present a solution regarding IT data collection, and how to increase the tax net by collecting data from provincial governments, public and private institutions, housing societies, and other institutions.

Officials said that the IT Ministry will not go out of its domain. Data collection will be done by the FBR. The Ministry will provide technical support to the FBR, State Bank of Pakistan, and other institutions to digitize the economy. They further said that no ordinance would be required for this task.