Pakistan’s acting Federal Minister for IT and telecommunications, Dr. Umar Saif, announced some exciting news. He mentioned that there will be significant changes shortly because the payment gateways, PayPal and Stripe, are getting ready to enter Pakistan.
They presented a compelling argument for the presence of these services in Pakistan during significant discussions with major corporations such as Wise, PayPal and Stripe, despite reservations expressed by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
With optimism, Dr. Saif believes that within the next four to six weeks, excellent news regarding PayPal and Stripe may be announced. This is especially beneficial for independent contractors and other independent workers.
There are roughly 1.5 million freelancers in Pakistan. Yet, issues with the internet and other factors have occasionally made it difficult for businesses to expand.
The E-Rozgar program will provide interest-free loans to enterprises in order to address these issues, and shared workspaces for around 500,000 individuals are planned. Additionally, Dr. Saif informed us of a strategy to test IT graduates uniformly in collaboration with the Higher Education Commission (HEC).
The IT industry in Pakistan is quite significant. It includes almost 19,000 enterprises that contribute $2.5 billion in revenue and jobs to the nation! However, there are several obstacles, including as IT businesses’ reluctance to retain their dollars because to regulations around their use.
In an effort to assist, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) is allowing IT companies to retain a larger portion of their cash in US dollars. They raised the cap to 50% in the hopes that it would stimulate the IT industry and attract more foreign investment.
Thus, there is much to look forward to as Pakistan’s tech industry continues to grow!
