Pakistani freelancers, who have long been frustrated by the unavailabilityof PayPal, an online payment system enabling global money transfers, nowhave a reason to celebrate. Caretaker Federal Minister for InformationTechnology and Telecommunication, Dr. Umar Saif, has recently announced hisdetermination to introduce “PayPal and Stripe to Pakistan.”

Dr. Saif, a prominent figure in the tech industry, shared his vision forPakistan’s online freelancers on the social media platform X (formerlyTwitter). He outlined the following roadmap for them:

1. Bring PayPal and Stripe to Pakistan.

2. Apply a uniform tax rate of 0.25% for online freelancing, similar to theIT industry.

3. Establish co-working spaces to accommodate 500,000 freelancers inPakistan.

He expressed confidence that Pakistani online freelancers couldcollectively earn up to $2.5 billion within the next two years.

Dr. Saif presented this roadmap during an event related to ITCN Asia 2023,aiming to achieve an annual export target of $10 billion through four keydimensions. He also proposed measures to increase IT exports, includingretaining export income within Pakistan’s banks and training 100,000software developers through public-private partnerships, which could leadto a $2 billion annual boost in exports, ultimately reaching a total exportvalue of $5.5 billion. Additionally, he emphasized the importance oforganizing training programs and boot camps to equip university graduateswith the in-demand skills of the IT industry.