Dr Umar Saif, Pakistan’s caretaker federal minister for IT and Telecommunications, said on Wednesday that the country will hear “good news” regarding PayPal and stripe payment gateways in Pakistan in the coming weeks.
Talking about the country’s budding freelancing community, Dr Saif, who was addressing the media alongside caretaker information minister Murtaza Solangi, said that there is no financial instrument available to facilitate payments.
“Therefore, we have held talks with PayPal, Stripe and Wise, and have presented our case to them,” he said.
“These companies have their apprehensions, including the FATF issue. Despite this, we are seeing progress. I am optimistic that we will hear good news regarding PayPal, and Stripe in the coming four to six weeks, and through any formula, we will provide these services to our freelancer community,” he said.
Dr Saif said 1.5 million Pakistanis are working as IT freelancers. “We are the second-largest online workforce,” he said.
“However, the lack of infrastructure is holding us back. Through the E-Rozgar programme, interest-free loans will be provided to the private sector, under which co-working space for 500,000 people will be established,” shared the minister.
We are working alongside the Higher Education Commission (HEC), under which a standardised test for IT graduates will be conducted: Dr Umar Saif
The interim minister said that the country’s IT sector is made up of around 19,000 companies, which provides employment opportunities to 150,000 and exports to the tune of $2.5 billion in official exports.
Dr Saif said a number of IT companies keep their forex reserves and revenues outside the country, amid restrictions on repatriation of the US dollar.
“As per a conservative estimate, Pakistan’s IT exports stand at $4-4.5 billion, however, this is not the case due to restrictions on US-dollar spending,” he said.
“Through the efforts of the IT ministry and P@SHA, the authorities have now been allowed to retain 50% of their revenue in US dollar account. These companies will be provided corporate debit cards by the banks, which can be freely used to make international payments,” he said.
Days ago, in order to facilitate the IT exporters to boost the exports of IT and IT-enabled services, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) increased the permissible retention limit of IT exporters from 35% to 50% of their export proceeds in the Exporters’ Specialised Foreign Currency Accounts (ESFCAs).
In addition, the utilisation of the retained funds has been further liberalised. According to the SBP, the usage of the balances available in the ESFCAs has been simplified by allowing IT exporters to make their payments from these accounts without any approval from SBP or banks.
This step has been taken on the recommendation of the IT industry aimed to encourage the exporters of software, Information Technology (IT) and IT-enabled Services (ITeS) as well as freelance services to boost export earnings and bring additional foreign exchange into the country.
“Amid this decision, we believe that a number of IT companies, which were compelled to keep their reserves outside, will bring its liquidity into Pakistan and our IT exports would soon reach $3.5-4 billion,” said Saif.
The interim minister noted that despite a high demand for the IT sector, there is a dearth of skilled workforce in Pakistan.
“We are working alongside the Higher Education Commission (HEC), under which a standardised test for IT graduates will be conducted. Those who clear it will be provided mandatory apprenticeship in the IT industry,” he said.
Dr Saif said that the test would be conducted by the National Computing and Education Accreditation Council in all universities. The first test would be conducted in December this year, he said.
“We will also train some 16,000 persons in different software services this year,” said Saif. “This will enhance the bench strength of the local IT companies,” he added.
Citing his recent visit to the UAE, where the interim minister attended the GITEX conference, Dr Saif said that there is a huge potential for Pakistani IT companies.
On startups, the interim minister said that the government should facilitate investments in the startup sector.
“In the coming weeks, we will launch the Pakistan Startup Fund, under which we will facilitate and collaborate with global venture capitalists to invest in Pakistani startups. In the coming years, Pakistan will see billion-dollar startups,” he added.
Dr Saif said that the process of auction of around 5G spectrum has been initiated.
“In partnership with the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), we are also launching a cell phone financing scheme, which would allow people to purchase high-end phones in installments.
“Through this measure, a market for high-end phones will be established in the country,” he said.
Dr Saif said the government is working on enhancing cyber-security and protection against online data theft.
“A cyber-security authority will be announced in the next few months,” he added.
Content source: brecorder.com/news/40269953
Saturday, October 28, 2023