PayPal service needs to be made available in Bangladesh

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Despite the fact that Bangladesh’s economy has been prospering in a stunning pace, it is yet to have PayPal services in the country, which would be extremely helpful particularly to hundreds and thousands of freelancers, who are earning millions of dollars every year.

PayPal is an online payment platform that facilitates payments between individuals and businesses. In addition to online payments, PayPal offers a debit card for payments, credit card readers for use in businesses, and lines of credit.

Solayman Haider is one of the pioneer freelancers in Bangladesh. He started his journey in 2011 when the word freelancing was a new thing among the locals. Though it was hard to find learning resources that time Solayman never stopped and did his best to acquire expertise in his working area.

Today, students from the country’s top universities are entering what is called the gig economy as full-time and part-time freelancers, inspiring others. The bigger picture is: their initiatives are turning Bangladesh into a massive hub for sourcing freelancers and starting a freelance revolution.

Over one million active freelancers are there in the country and they work on digital talent platforms such as Upwork, Fiverr, and Freelancer, according to the ICT division. Their combined annual earnings are estimated at around US$550 million.

Some experts were afraid the freelancing earning would plummet this year due to the outbreak of Covid-19. The pandemic has instead spurred a freelance boom. Freelancers have seen a spike in demand as remote work has become the new normal. Also, countless market entrants – students and fresh graduates – are joining the gig economy, many of whom are working to supplement income and gain experience.

Freelancers are frustrated over the payment gateway. They say PayPal is the globally recognized payment gateway for freelancers but PayPal does not operate in Bangladesh despite the country’s huge labor force.

Back in 2021, state minister for information and communication technology (ICT) Zunaid Ahmed Palak told vernacular daily Prothom Alo, efforts have been on to bring PayPal into Bangladesh since 2014. He said talks with PayPal are on and there has been progress recently.

The state minister said they would give freelancers a piece of good news on PayPal. “I am not making any official announcement. Perhaps, PayPal will announce a decision”.

But two years have passed and until now there is no news about availability of PayPal services in Bangladesh.

Earlier on July 15, 2015, state minister Zunaid Ahmed Palak in a Facebook post said:

We had a very effective meeting with Vice Presidents of PayPal today in San Jose, California. We explained them in details about Bangladesh Government’s policies & regulatory reforms and business opportunities for PayPal.

They have agreed to launch Xoom’s operations in Bangladesh within this quarter. This will also internally discuss on how they can prioritize and launch PayPal in Bangladesh and let us know if they need any further support from our Government. We will continue our persuasion to bring PayPal in Bangladesh sooner than later.

On October 9, 2017, BDNEWS24 in a report said:

Prime Minister’s ICT Affairs Adviser Sajeeb Wazed Joy will inaugurate the PayPal services at a ceremony at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in Dhaka on that day, State Minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak has said.

Initially, the services will be available through nine banks, including state-owned Sonali and Rupali, and Social Islami Bank, Palak told bdnews24.com on Monday. More banks will offer the service later on.

“The PayPal authorities have been reviewing the market for some days. They decided to launch fully fledged services after exploring the possibilities”, Palak said.

“This will benefit Bangladesh’s freelancers. Digital transactions will be smooth and remittance inflow will rise”, the state minister remarked.

He said online payment services are ‘very important’ for establishing a ‘Digital Bangladesh’ as pledged by the government.

“We are advancing towards a cashless society through such initiatives”.

State Minister Palak said the launch of the PayPal services will also play a significant role in achieving Bangladesh’s target to earn US$5 billion annually through the ICT sector by 2021.

1 COMMENT

  1. It’s truly impressive to see how freelancing has become a major industry in Bangladesh, and the efforts to bring PayPal services to the country are commendable. Hopefully, a decision on this matter will be announced soon, which will benefit the country’s freelancers and help achieve the goal of earning $5 billion annually through the ICT sector.

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