PayPal to enter Pakistan via third-party app

• PayPal signs agreement with Payoneer in Pakistan.
• Freelancers to recieve money via third-party app.
• Information ministry also signs agreement with PayPal. 

ISLAMABAD: PayPal, which is an online payment system, has agreed to sign an agreement with another company in Pakistan through which freelancers will be able to receive money, The News reported Monday.

The company Payoneer — which is also a digital payment service — will secure the money earned by freelancers from abroad and remit it into the account of the recipient’s bank in the country.

It is yet to be seen how much this company Payoneer is going to charge on its services for transferring the amount from both sides — PayPal and working freelancers. 

Around 4 million freelancers are operating in the country out of which around 1.5 million work on a permanent basis. It has been considered a growing phenomenon in Pakistan, especially among youth equipped with IT skills.

The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecom also signed an agreement with PayPal for placing a framework to make this arrangement operational. The Ministry of IT & Telecom is going to announce this mechanism during this week on January 11, 2024.

Now the freelancers would be able to open dollar accounts but they would have to retain 50% amount in US dollars in their accounts. The caretaker government thus fulfilled one of the major demands of freelancers in the country. 

Federal Minister for IT & Telecom Dr Umair Saif stated in a video message that there was good news that Pakistani freelancers would be able to receive their money through PayPal.

“We have devised such a mechanism under which there would be no need to open up a PayPal account. Now anyone sitting outside Pakistan could send money through a PayPal account and then the money could be received in Pakistani banks," he added.