Pakistan to establish e-Payment Gateway by April

• SBP  says that the government's decision to increase the monthly remittance limit to $25,000 for freelancers will be implemented in the coming two days.
• Facilitating and providing freelancers is among the government's priorities, says PM Imran Khan.

The process of establishing an e-Payment Gateway would be completed by April, 2020, which would facilitate freelancers in Pakistan, it was learnt on Friday during a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan.

PM Khan chaired a meeting for the promotion of Information Technology. During the meeting, Secretary Information Technology Shoaib Siddiqui informed the PM that a comprehensive action plan has been set up for the promotion of the IT sector and responsibilities have been assigned to all relevant ministries.

A representative of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said that the government's decision to increase the monthly remittance limit to $25,000 for freelancers will be implemented in the coming two days. It was sought to provide freelancers with more concessions on the money received and also make available the conversion of foreign currency to local currency at the interbank rates.

Meanwhile, representative from the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) briefed the prime minister on tax incentives for the IT sector.

Addressing the meeting, the Prime Minister said that the government is committed to facilitate the youths in the IT sector in every possible way. Facilitating and providing freelancers is among the government's priorities, he said.

The Prime Minister said that the promotion of the IT sector will bring hundreds of thousands of youth associated with the sector to utilize their skills and create job opportunities.

PM Khan directed that the timelines be based on key issues related to the promotion of IT sector, such as the establishment of special technology zones, the issuance of the 5G spectrum, the integration of towers through fibre-ization in major cities of the country and other important issues.

The PM directed to set up a detailed road map in the next week, in order to remove barriers hampering information technology development.

The meeting was attended by Advisor to Prime Minister on Trade Abdul Razzaq Dawood, Special Assistant on Information Firdous Ashiq Awan, Co-Chairman Prime Minister Task Force on IT and Telecom Dr Ata-ur Rehman, Information Technology, Commerce, Cabinet and Finance Division and other senior officers.