Finally, an array of light has fallen on Pakistan’s information technology (IT) related exports a boost as the government is engaged in talks to bring a global payment partner like PayPal to Pakistan. This was disclosed on Monday during a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Commerce.
A briefing on the country’s first-ever National e-Commerce Council was also given to members of the meeting. The committee met at the Parliament House with Senator Zeeshan Khanzada in the chair. The committee was told that Pakistan is the 37th biggest e-commerce market in the world and is still rapidly growing.
Committee members issued the importance of maintaining the quality of online services and e-Commerce so that it can gain the trust of the public and realize its true potential. Senator Tarin made a startling claim that Pakistani freelancers have parked around $3-4 billion dollars offshore due to high taxes domestically.
Government officials told Senator Afridi that they had held talks with PayPal and other similar payment gateways in a bid to bring them to Pakistan. The officials told the Senator that;
“We are trying to start this service in Pakistan as soon as possible, current payments are made through another payment gateway linked to PayPal on a marketplace such as Amazon.”
Furthermore, the former finance minister suggested the government offer freelancers a 10-year tax holiday. He called on the relevant authorities to allow freelancers to open 100% foreign currency accounts to freely receive and send payments. At this Senate Deputy Chairman Mirza Muhammad Afridi remarked that to enhance Pakistan’s IT exports, it was important to bring global payment platforms such as PayPal in Pakistan.
