KARACHI: Pakistani developers moved up to 16th place in 2023 from 27th in 2018 in terms of app downloads, with apps developed in the South Asian country downloaded four billion times in 2022, Google said on Thursday.

Pakistan’s IT exports during the first half of the current fiscal year (FY23) increased by two percent to $1.3 billion, contributing 38% to the overall services’ export, according to research by Arif Habib, a leading Pakistani securities brokerage, investment banking and research firm.

In 2022, 65 apps from 24 Pakistani developers reached the top 10 rankings in the gaming and apps verticals on both Play Store and App Store, according to Google.

“In 2022, apps developed in Pakistan were downloaded a staggering 4 billion times worldwide, marking a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 30% from 2018 to 2020,” the company said.

Google said it recently held the “first and the biggest” offline apps and games-related event in Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore, bringing together more than 500 developers and industry leaders to learn about scaling up Pakistani apps and games globally.

“To help Pakistani studios and developers further unlock digital opportunities, Google is expanding its support for the apps industry in Pakistan through [events like] Think Apps, which are designed to bring in-depth knowledge and trends from global experts to local developers,” the Google statement said.

Think Apps was in continuation of similar events – Think Games and Gaming Growth Lab – that were organized for the first time in the South Asian country by the American technology giant last year.

Through these events, Google had worked with over 1,600 developers and nurtured 50 early-stage gaming studios to compete on the global stage, the statement said, adding that the technology company had also helped over 5,000 Cloud developers and more than 3,000 Android developers upskill through community-led programs, such as Cloud Seekho S5 and Android Seekho S2.

“The country has the potential to become a key player in shaping the future of the global app economy,” Google's Director for Pakistan Farhan S. Qureshi said.

“I’m confident that Think Apps 2023 will enable even more local developers to create great games and apps, supercharge their growth, and scale globally with Google AI-powered solutions.”