Pakistan developing its own international payment gateway

• System would be joined with other online payment companies such as PayPal, which will help real-time payments transfer, said Ministry of Commerce spokesperson.
• Pakistan is among the world biggest freelance software exporters.

In order to facilitate freelancers and businesses, Pakistan is developing its own international payment gateway.

“At the moment, majority of our exports are reported as remittances as we don’t have an international payment gateway,” Aisha Humera Moriani, spokesperson for Ministry of Commerce, told Arab News. The official added that the system would be joined with other online payment companies such as PayPal, which will help real-time payments transfer.

She said that as the IT revolution transforms businesses, Pakistan needs to keep pace with the changes in order to boost its exports as well as create more employment opportunities. Pakistan is among the world biggest freelance software exporters.

Digitization has been one of the key agendas of the present government, last month, Prime Minister Imran Khan launched the ‘Digital Pakistan Vision Project.'  He has said that ‘Digital Pakistan' is need of the hour and it is an important initiative for the youth of the country.

Meanwhile, as per the report, the sales of local and international e-commerce merchants in Pakistan have doubled in 2018 from Rs 20.7 billion in 2017 to Rs 40.1 billion in 2018. “These figures do not include all the post-paid cash-on-delivery transactions which account for 60 percent of the total value of e-commerce in Pakistan,” said Moriani.