PayPal, Stripe coming to Pakistan? Here’s latest update

Caretaker Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Dr Umar Saif said that talks were underway with both PayPal and Stripe regarding offering services in the country.

Talking to media, the IT minister said that government intends to convince PayPal to provide service through a third party in Pakistan on similar lines to Egypt where PayPal offers its services through a third party.

He said that the ministry has requested PayPal to allow Pakistani freelancers to bring money to Pakistan through a one-way service. “Talks will be held with PayPal in this regard in a week’s time,” he said.

The IT minister also highlighted that talks with Stripe, another payment processing platform, are also underway.

Earlier this month, caretaker IT Minister Umar Saif expressed his resolve to bring “PayPal and Stripe to Pakistan”.

The IT minister discussed the proposal of bringing PayPal, Stripe and Wise to Pakistan with the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) officials.

During the meeting, dollar retention accounts and corporate debit cards for IT companies, to enable IT companies to retain and spend their dollars easily were also discussed.

1. Bring PayPal/Stripe/Wise to Pakistan, to enable freelancers and e-commerce companies to easily get paid.
2. Dollar retention accounts and corporate debit cards for IT companies, to enable IT companies to retain and spend their dollars easily.
3. Accelerate next stage of RAAST merchant payments (P2M), with a request-to-pay facility