Lahore: Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI) President Daroo Khan Achakzai has urged the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to develop a mechanism for facilitating direct access to PayPal and other financial/monetary transfer services in the country, a news source reported.
Achakzai opined that these services would help enhance the e-commerce trade as well as improve Pakistan’s ranking in global e-commerce trade sector. He added that currently, this sector remained unexplored in the country. He stated reasons such as lack of awareness, payment facilities, and dispute resolution mechanism, along with weak regulatory mechanism for protection, and insurance liability.
Meanwhile, the FPCCI president lauded the government of Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan for devising the first ever e-commerce policy and underlining the significance of its implementation. He also appreciated the PM’s efforts to enhance completion and reduce transaction costs, and extending support to Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs) along with large companies.
Achakzai also mentioned SBP’s statistics which revealed that the use of technology in mobile money, retail trade, banking transactions, utility transfers, online shopping, transfer of funds, education, health, and e-mail communication was low in Pakistan. He cited lack of awareness and low technical skills as reasons for this issue.
He added that government should include FPCCI representatives to the National e-Commerce Council, which will be set up as part of the government’s e-commerce policy framework. The council will comprise of representatives from public and private sectors. Achakzai said that the FPCCI representatives would bring the voice of trade and industry bodies to the council in an effort to protect their business interests.
