MM News

ISLAMABAD: Caretaker IT Minister Dr Umar Saif has confirmed the federal government’s plan to bring financial services companies PayPal and Stripe to Pakistan.

The IT Minister Dr Umar Saif made the statement after holding a meeting with Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar to review the steps taken to enhance IT exports by over $5 billion by bringing reforms in the sector.

Dr Saif said that the IT exports could be enhanced to $10 billion if hurdles are removed. He said that the IT sector would play a vital role in economic stability after cooperation in the projects.

In a detailed message on X (formerly Twitter), the caretaker IT minister said that the prime minister approved and appreciated the plan to launch a government-backed Pakistan Venture Capital Fund (PVCF) to attract top-tier international VCs to Pakistan which would enable $1 Billion VC investment in startups.

He added that it has also been approved to launch satellite internet company Starlink in Pakistan to improve connectivity throughout the country.

He said it was decided to bring PayPal and Stripe to Pakistan and establish co-working spaces for 500,000 freelancers to increase their potential to an additional $3 billion per year

He said the government agreed to enable active spectrum sharing, forward-looking taxation policies, regulations and incentives for the telecom industry to prepare for the upcoming 5G auction within 10 months.

He added that the government will provide incentives for local manufacturing and export of smartphones as well as a smartphone financing platform so that people can easily get phones on monthly installments.

The Prime Minister has approved and appreciated our plan for the Ministry of IT and Telecom:

1. Enhance IT exports by institutionalising dollar retention accounts, IT corporate debit cards to enable easy flow of money in and out of retention accounts, streamlining tax issues and… pic.twitter.com/QAQPT4ObZ8

— Umar Saif (@umarsaif) September 6, 2023