Good news is here, and it’s party time for freelancers in Pakistan! For a long time, they’ve been really annoyed because Paypal wasn’t available for them to send or receive money across borders. But now, things are looking up, and they have a reason to be happy!
The person in charge of Information Technology and Communication, Dr. Umar Saif, said he wants to bring PayPal and Stripe to Pakistan. Because of this, freelancers have a reason to be happy and celebrate.
If you’re looking for expert advice on freelancing online in Pakistan, Saif’s your go-to guy. On a social media network called X—previously known as Twitter—he laid out a step-by-step guide. Saif announced, “For all you Pakistani freelancers working online, here’s your blueprint for success:”
- Add PayPal and Stripe
- Tax freelancers like IT workers: 0.25%
- Build shared work areas for 500,000 freelancers in Pakistan
In the upcoming two years, he’s optimistic that our team of online freelancers has the potential to earn a staggering 2.5 billion dollars!”
At the ITCN Asia 2023 event, the tech boss revealed a four-part plan to make $10 billion a year from selling goods abroad.
If we can give IT companies the confidence to store their earnings in special bank accounts right here in Pakistan, there’s a good chance we could raise our tech exports each year. With this approach, we might even reach a total of $3.5 billion in annual IT sales to other countries.
To help people learn how to create software, the government is teaming up with private companies. They have a goal to train 100,000 individuals. This teamwork aims to increase how much money we make from selling things to other countries. The plan is to add an extra $2 billion to our yearly sales. With this boost, we expect our total earnings from international sales to reach $5.5 billion each year.
He said they will have different classes and short courses to help college students learn the skills that computer and tech companies are looking for.
He also said the training program will give jobs to thousands of people who finished school in the country. This will help them and their families make a living.
In simple terms, Dr. Umar Saif wants us to know something important about online work in Pakistan. He says that a huge number of Pakistanis are working on the internet, making them the second biggest group in the world doing this kind of job. However, the money they make online isn’t counted separately; it’s grouped in with the money sent back home by Pakistanis who are living in other countries. The reason this happens is because Paypal, a way to get paid internationally, isn’t available in Pakistan. It’s a significant issue that he thinks should be addressed.
He said that by making it easier for freelancers to get paid from anywhere and by simplifying their account setup, we could boost exports by an additional $2 billion.
In simple terms, he pointed out that training is helping freelancers learn useful skills. But that’s just part of the picture. For these freelancers to really boost exports in tech services and computer-related work, they also need a supportive work environment and the right tools.
He mentioned that the government and private companies will team up to provide 5,000 spots in different cities where freelancers can work.
In Pakistan, people who do freelance work are taxed quite heavily on what they make. By lowering their tax rate to match the 0.25% that IT professionals pay, we could really boost the growing trend of freelance and gig jobs. This way, more folks might be drawn to freelancing as a way to make a living.
When is PayPal Coming to Pakistan?
In Pakistan, a short-term government takes over for 60 or 90 days to help run fair elections. Dr. Saif is part of one of these 90-day governments because the National Assembly was closed early.
The IT minister is keen on improving technology in Pakistan. During the 90-day period of the temporary government, he might work on introducing PayPal to the country.
The short-term government is expected to stay in place for longer than the planned 90 days. That’s because the group in charge of elections in Pakistan has decided to update the voting districts using new computer-based data. This could take quite a while to finish.
The head person for elections recently said they plan to finish setting up voting areas by December 14, 2023. This means the elections will happen next year. This gives the temporary government, which is very skilled, more time to do its work.
Alright, we have another opportunity to get this thing off the ground, and that’s coming up at the beginning of 2024.
If politics in Pakistan changes, the start date for PayPal there might change too.
