Budget proposals will stifle IT sector: FPCCI

KARACHI: The budget proposals for FY25 will stifle growth and innovation in the informal technology sector and exacerbate brain drain through high taxation, the chief of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) said on Thursday.

Atif Ikram Sheikh, the FPCCI chief, said at a press conference that despite repeated assurances from the incumbent government, budgetary proposals submitted by the IT industry had been completely ignored.

He said the Finance Bill for FY25 showed the finance division’s “short-sightedness vis-à-vis the IT industry”, expressing apprehensions that the new proposals would “derail the IT sector”.

The Pakistan Software Houses Association (PSHA) has come up with its concerns at various platforms over the past 10 days, with its chairman contending that the remote worker tax regime undermines the government’s revenue targets.