ISLAMABAD – Finance Minister Asad Umar has asserted that he was in touch with online payments system, PayPal and was even ready to travel to USA for the same purpose.
Speaking at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Peshawar on Monday, the minister rubbished reports that the federal government was blocking PayPal’s entry into the Pakistani market.
The lawmaker claimed that the government was actually “chasing” the online payments giant.
Umar was asked if his ministry or any other federal institution was against PayPal expanding its operations into Pakistan.
“What you’ve been told about PayPal is completely wrong,” the finance minister replied.
“PayPal is neither stuck at my desk, nor the State Bank, nor any other government institution. The situation is actually reverse. I took up this even though this issue is not directly related to me,” he shared.
The legislator continued that PayPal was a fantastic source for the employment of our youth, boys and girls who work from their homes.
“The nonavailability of PayPal or any other effective online payment system causes them a lot of problems. This is why I took the initiative myself and had a message sent to the PayPal chief executive officer,” Umar observed.
The finance minister highlighted that the government had initiated a dialogue with the firm adding that he was working on another online payment system as well.
“After PayPal, the second [biggest online payment system] in the world is AliPay, whose subsidiary is Ant Financial which has acquired majority shares of Telenor Bank, which previously used to be Tameer Bank,” the minister said.
“In my talks with them, they have assured me that among their first few projects will be an online payment system. So that [is also on the table] but we will keep on chasing PayPal as well,” the finance minister added.
PayPal is a faster, safer way to send money, make an online payment, receive money or set up a merchant account; the service is not available in Pakistan despite repeated calls by the tech industry experts.
