Pakistan Is Soon Going To Be In The Amazon Selling Countries List
Pakistan stands at 4th place in the world for providing freelancing services according to the Online Labor Index published for the year 2017 by Oxford Internet Institute. Since the IT sector in Pakistan is emerging with every passing day, it is estimated that by the end of 2022, Pakistan will gain the top position.
The IT industry in Pakistan is the fastest growing industry which even during pandemic situation is responsible for generating 1% of GDP.
Being the 4th country all over the world in terms of freelancing services, the Pakistani freelancer face a lot of problem in many ways. There are platforms that they do not have access to. One of them is Amazon.
But the wait is now over as Pakistan has bagged its position among the seller lists of Amazon which means that a person sitting in Pakistan can sell things on Amazon.
But don’t be too much excited and put your credit cards back in your purses as this is just an opportunity for sellers not the buyers. But we don’t lose the hope about that either.
The whole thing might take some time but not more than a week. Once here, I am sure it will be a great step in IT sector and would increase the income options for Pakistani youth.
The biggest edge that Pakistan will get is that previously the exporters used to pay a lot of money for setting up the company in the US, UK or any other Amazon approved countries, hire consultants or legal persons to handle their taxes problem and the biggest challenge was to maintain their bank accounts.
An average seller use to spend more than 5000 USD for handling such situations. And if there happen to be any issue in the account or the company, the exporters couldn’t tackle that as they were in Pakistan But now since the Amazon has included Pakistan in their selling list, such problems can be handled very easily as legal issue here are solved in less expense and the consultants and legal lawyers are also available very easily.
Another great thing is that the revenue would directly enter in the country which is a positive initiative in the economical development of Pakistan.
Every picture has two sides. This was one but there is another side to the whole story. Now before I share that I want you to keep in mind that this is my point of view and you have full right to disagree with me on that.
The biggest challenge from Amazon entering Pakistan will be for the government and state bank of Pakistan as they will have to announce a tax policy for the freelancers. Unlike many other countries, freelancer here doesn’t fall in any category in the state’s tax policy. Despite of generating 1% of the country’s GDP, they don’t get any rebate or benefits on that like other exporters.
This is the time where the freelancers in Pakistan must be recognized as a full fledge category and must be given a proper channel by which they can bring in the money.
There are many challenges that we have to face but we positively welcome Amazon in our country and we couldn’t be happier. Thanks to the people behind all this, Aisha Moriani (Joint Secretary, Ministry of Commerce), Omer Gajial (Ex Amazon Category Development Head for Amazon North America division), and Shoaib Sarwar (deputy Consul General, Consulate General Pakistan, Los Angeles) along with the team members of NECC (National Ecommerce Council) and Badar Khushnood from Pakistan Software Houses Association whose efforts has shown its color at last as it would definitely change the whole course of the game.
by Momina Haroon