As many as 10,000 freelancers would start receiving payments from PayPal in February under the pilot project, caretaker Federal Minister for IT and Telecommunication Umar Saif on Thursday.

“The programme would be scaled up and everyone would have access to payments from PayPal and Stripe across the country,” he said while addressing a Tech Destination Pakistan event that featured the launch of E-Rozgar Centers in the country.

He clarified that while PayPal itself is not coming to Pakistan, an agreement has been reached where remittances would be channelled through PayPal via a third party.

Under the newly devised programme, the freelancers would not need to open a PayPal account. Instead, individuals outside the country would make payments from their PayPal accounts, and the funds would be promptly deposited into the freelancers’ accounts, the minister explained.

The minister said that the government has devised a mechanism for the opening of bank accounts for freelancers.

He mentioned that only freelancers would have to provide evidence that they have an account on Fiverr, Upwork, Elance, Toptal, or Crossover.

“The IT industry would have a 50 per cent dollar retention policy, which means that whatever you earn, you can keep 50 per cent of that in dollars. You will get a debit card from that bank so that you can freely spend that money domestically or internationally.”

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He highlighted that the government has allocated “enough funds” for the establishment of E-Rozgaar centers across the country through a public-private partnership mode, facilitating an interest-free loan to shortlisted/qualified individuals and companies.

The main objective behind the E-Rozgaar centers was to provide state-of-the-art infrastructure to enhance freelancers’ productivity and bolster Pakistan’s digital ecosystem, he said.

Under the programme, more than 250 E-Rozgaar Pakistan centers would be established through the public and private sectors.