PAKISTAN is home to three million freelancers who have taken us to be among the top five countries providing freelance services around the world. Pakistani freelancers earned export remittances worth $400 million in the fiscal year that ended in June this year.

The amount accounted for 14.77 per cent of the total Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) exports. Despite their contribution to the country’s economy, the community of freelancers faces a lot of problems in simply opening a bank account, which is such a pity.

A large number of Pakistanis are still outside the banking network, and the commercial banks seem bent on discouraging the citizens further, putting stumbling blocks to make the process of opening an account as cumbersome as they possibly can. The banks do not recognise income earned through freelancing as good enough to be routed through an account. In which world they seem to be living is something that is too hard to fathom.

A couple of weeks ago, when I was expecting my first earnings from my social media channel, my request for opening a bank account was rejected. I gave several options to the bank, such as documents related to my blog, my channel or some freelance marketplace, but none of them was accepted as ‘proof’ of payment.

Having no other option, I attached my AdSense account to one of my relatives’ bank account through which I ended up receiving my first payment. Is that what the banks want the freelancers to do? Is that what the regulatory authority, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), wants us to do?

Pakistani freelancers do not have access to PayPal and such other platforms used by their counterparts in other countries, and, yet, they do a great job of earning in foreign currency.

We may not convince PayPal to start its operations in the country, but at least the government can convince the banks operating in the country to recognise freelancing as an acceptable source of earning for opening a bank account.

Anas Tariq
Kurram

Published in Dawn, October 30th, 2022