ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s lack of policy direction for the digital transformation of the economy threatens the realization of its e-commerce potential, an Islamabad-based think tank says in a study released on Friday.
In 2020, the State Bank of Pakistan forecasts total e-commerce activity in Pakistan to have more than tripled since 2016-17. However, the growth of the e-commerce sector “has largely been in spite of government policy action (or lack thereof), not because of it,” the report says.
According to technology policy expert Anum Malkani, who authored the study published by Tabadlab, despite e-commerce being recognized as an important tool to boost small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), employment and exports, the policy response has been slow.
While the Ministry of Commerce released Pakistan’s e-commerce policy in October 2019 to address the slow pace and lack of direction, Tabadlab argues there remains ambiguity on key issues such as data protection, digital financial transactions, and foreign direct investment (FDI) in e-commerce.
To truly transform transactions, the study says, policy must strengthen the technology and payments infrastructure and improve access across the country and regulatory framework, including protecting consumers from fraud, and ensuring data protection and privacy.
It must also clarify taxation policy with regard to local and international e-commerce, and enable access to foreign markets through multilateral and bilateral agreements.
If not addressed, according Tabadlab, the gaps threaten the realization of Pakistan’s e-commerce potential.
Policy gaps threaten realization of Pakistan’s e-commerce potential — study
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Policy gaps threaten realization of Pakistan’s e-commerce potential — study
- SBP forecasts e-commerce activity in 2020 to have more than tripled since 2016
- Policy ambiguity remains with regard to data protection, digital financial transactions and FDI
Pakistani forces kill 24 militants in restive province bordering Afghanistan
- The militants were killed in separate intelligence-based operations in Orakzai and Khyber districts of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province
- Pakistan witnessed a 28 percent increase in militant attacks in Jan., with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa accounting for 38 out of 87 attacks nationwide
ISLAMABAD: Security forces have killed 24 Pakistani Taliban militants in two separate engagements in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, the Pakistani military said on Friday.
In recent years, Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant attacks, mainly by the Pakistani Taliban, or the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), targeting security forces and police in KP, which borders Afghanistan.
The militants were killed in intelligence-based operations in KP’s Orakzai and Khyber districts conducted on reports about their presence, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military’s media wing.
“Sanitization operations are being conducted to eliminate any other Indian-sponsored kharji [TTP militant] found in the area,” the ISPR said.
There was no immediate response by New Delhi to the Pakistani military’s statement.
Pakistan recorded a 28 percent increase in militant attacks in Jan. as compared to the previous month, with 87 incidents occurring across the country, the Islamabad-based Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS) said in its report this month. Of these, 38 attacks took place in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 27 in Balochistan, where authorities have been battling a separatist insurgency, and two in the Punjab province.
Islamabad has frequently accused Afghanistan of allowing its soil and India of backing militant groups, including the TTP, for attacks against Pakistan. Kabul and New Delhi have consistently denied this.
