Prime Minister of Pakistan Mr. Shehbaz Sharif has inaugurated a separate segment in the Bank of Punjab (BOP) for Pakistani freelancers with a BOP credit card with a limit of 5,000 dollars. This initiative has been started to give more financial freedom to freelancers and to attract more foreign exchange.
According to this initiative, IT professionals and freelancers can now open a digital freelancer account in the Bank of Punjab in PKR or in USD. This digital freelancer account will provide them with a deposit and withdrawal limit of $5,000 monthly and $30,000 yearly. A digital freelancer account will also give them an opportunity to get a BOP freelancer credit card. This BOP freelancer credit card will give them a monthly withdrawal limit of $5,000.
Pakistani IT professionals and freelancers will use this account to receive foreign remittances and this will ultimately resolve their payment-related issues. It will also improve their financial freedom.
The integration was unveiled by PM Shehbaz Sharif during a ceremony where cheques were distributed to the recipients of the Prime Minister’s Youth Business and Agriculture Loan Scheme (PMYB&ALS). The President and CEO of the Bank of Punjab Mr. Zafar Masud was also part of this ceremony.
Mr. Zafar Masud spoke at this ceremony and highlighted the importance of freelancers and IT professionals in Pakistan. He said that there are approximately 3 million freelancers in the country at the moment. These freelancers are contributing around $400 million to the exports in the segment of information & communication technologies. This $400 million amount is a fraction of the total IT exports of $2.616 billion during the fiscal year 2022.
He further said that the total worth of the freelancer’s segment is billions of dollars. So, the Bank of Punjab aims to unlock this potential of freelancers and help the economy through its freelancer segment and credit card initiative.
In conclusion, this is a great initiative to empower Pakistani freelancers and IT professionals. Now Pakistani freelancers and IT professionals can contribute more to the economy and help to make a financially stable Pakistan.
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