PayPal is not Coming to Pakistan: Dr. Khalid Maqbool (Minister IT)

Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui on Thursday revealed that PayPal is not coming to Pakistan. The government is still connected with PayPal as well as looking for other alternatives, said the minister while briefing the Senate Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunication.

The committee meeting was chaired by Rubina Khalid here on Thursday. Secretary IT Marrof Afzal said that internal issues of PayPal were the reason behind the refusal for coming to Pakistan. He said that security and anti-money laundering related laws have been tightened and there is no issue in coming to Pakistan.

Senator Mohammad Ateeq Sheikh said that the company is not coming to Pakistan due to lack of legal backing. He further said that PayPal is operating worldwide, and a Pakistani director who is working in the company wants to bring it to Pakistan. However, fearing the entry of money laundering in the system in Pakistan, the company has refused to come to Pakistan.

He proposed that the government should provide a sovereign guarantee to PayPal and ask them for coming on Public Private Partnership to remove their apprehensions. The committee observed that due to lack of online money transfer system, the country is losing huge foreign exchange reserves, besides not letting the freelance sector to flourish.

The government should provide a sovereign guarantee to PayPal and ask them for coming on Public-Private Partnership to remove their apprehensions.