It is time for Pakistani freelancers, who have been grumbling for a long time about the lack of availability of PayPal, an online payment system that enables its users to send and receive money anywhere in the world, to rejoice since it is now accessible in their country.

The most recent remark made by caretaker Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Dr. Umar Saif, who has declared resolution to introduce “PayPal and Stripe to Pakistan,” is the reason why celebrations are being suggested to freelancers. Dr. Saif has stated that he is committed to bringing these services to Pakistan.

On the social media site X, which was once known as Twitter, Saif, one of the most talented techies in the country, published a roadmap for online freelancers in Pakistan. He penned the following in his article: “Our road map for online freelancers in Pakistan.”

Bring on the PayPal and Stripe payments

Apply the same tax rate of 0.25% to online freelancing as you do to the IT industry. Establish shared office spaces in Pakistan for the country’s 500,000 independent contractors.

He said, “I believe that our online freelancers can earn up to $2.5 Billion within the next two years!” and he had good reason to believe this.

During an event that was connected to ITCN Asia 2023, the minister of information technology revealed the strategy that will be used to reach the goal of achieving $10 billion in yearly exports through four primary dimensions.

He suggested that the yearly IT export could be expanded to $3.5 billion if IT companies were given the confidence to retain their exports income in special accounts of Pakistan banks rather than offshore offices in different countries. He stated that this confidence could be provided by providing assurance to the government of Pakistan.

The government ministry will, in conjunction with the private sector, provide training for one hundred thousand software engineers in order to increase annual exports by two billion dollars. This will bring the total value of exports to five and a half billion dollars.

In this regard, he stated that a variety of training programs and boot camps will be established in order to enhance the capability of university graduates in accordance with the skills that are in demand in the information technology business.

He went on to say that the training program would even be able to generate jobs for thousands of graduates around the nation so that they could care for themselves and their families.

Dr. Umar Saif went on to say that Pakistanis were the second largest online worker population in the world. Despite this, the income earned by Pakistanis working online were reflected in the remittances of Pakistanis living outside of Pakistan because the international payment gateway PayPal and STRIPE was not available in Pakistan.

He went on to say that making life easier for freelancers by providing them with a global payment gateway and an easy account facility will result in an increase of another $2 billion in exports.

According to him, training in a variety of skills was being provided to the independent contractors, and they were also receiving workstations and ecosystems to help them improve their contribution to the export of information technology and services enabled by information technology.

He stated that the government, in conjunction with the business sector, will develop space for independent contractors at 5,000 various places around the country’s cities.

“Additionally, the tax rate that is applied to the income of freelancers is exceedingly high, and it ought to be equalized to the tax rate that is applied to the information technology business, which is 0.25%. As a result, the growing phenomenon of the gig economy is something that Pakistan is also able to accommodate.

PayPal expected launch date in Pakistan

In order to ensure that elections in Pakistan are free and fair, a caretaker government has been installed in the country for a term of either sixty or ninety days. As a result of the dissolution of the National Assembly a few days before the end of its term, the constitutional term of office for the current government, to which Dr. Saif is affiliated, is ninety days.

The first possibility is that the IT minister, who is anxious to grow Pakistan’s tech sector, will try to make the debut of PayPal in Pakistan within the 90 days that the interim government is in power. This would be the first time that PayPal and STRIPE would be available in Pakistan.

However, given that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has chosen to hold new delimitation of seats in accordance with the newly conducted digital census, it is quite likely that the lifespan of the interim setup will extend beyond the allotted ninety days. The procedure could take several months.

In a recent statement, the chief election commissioner mentioned that the Electoral Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has set a goal to complete the delimitation process by December 14, 2023. It indicates that the elections will take place the following year, which will provide the “strongest ever [in terms of ability]” caretaker administration with additional time to put its programs into action.

Therefore, the first few months of 2024 constitute the second potential launch date. The debut of PayPal and STRIPE in Pakistan can be delayed or moved to a different time depending on the political climate in the nation.