ISLAMABAD: A digital payment app called Foree that is set to be rolled out in Pakistan in May this year will help boost the global cashless economy, create tens of thousands of jobs in Pakistan and facilitate overseas workers, especially in the Middle East, remit payments back home, Pakistani business mogul and chairman of the board of Foree has said.
The Pakistan government has recently launched a number of digital payment initiatives in a bid to boost financial inclusion and government revenue in a country where only a fraction of economic transactions occur on the books. The government says it also wants to incentivize private companies who want to help it shift away from a cash-based economy.
Several private-sector digital cash transfer systems that do not require a bank account, such as Jazzcash operated by telecommunications company Jazz, and Easypaisa operated by telecommunications company Telenor Pakistan, are already available in Pakistan but the Foree app is unique: it allows users to aggregate all their bank accounts and cards into a single app and carry out seamless domestic transactions at marginal cost. Users do not have to move money between different accounts using online banking and the service is unlike wallets, which only allow limited transaction facilities.
“Foree will be the first online payment system in Pakistan,” Murtaza Hashwani, deputy-chairman and CEO of Hashoo Group, and now the chairman of the board for Foree, told Arab News in an exclusive interview on Wednesday.
“Our ambition is global. This is going to be rolled out regionally in the Middle East and then we would like to take this globally,” he said, adding that around nine million Pakistanis abroad could help make Foree (which is the Urdu language word for ‘immediately’) a globally downloaded app.
Hashwani said the digital payment solution, regulated by the State Bank of Pakistan, would help overseas Pakistanis remit cash back home directly through the app, without the involvement of an agent or bank, and at minimum charge.
“Remittances will be one of the biggest areas we’re focusing on. For Pakistani diaspora living outside, remittances have always been a challenge,” he added, saying the app would help individuals and businesses regularize cash payments.
The app will also help boost e-commerce in the country and allow people to shop online from international brands and companies through real-time payments.
The project had been set up with a seed investment, Hashwani said, and future expansion would be undertaken by working with other global companies and venture capitalists willing to invest in Pakistan. Hashwani’s family conglomerate, Hashoo Group, is already a major player in the hospitality and oil and gas sectors.
Foree’s management estimates the payment solution will help create at least 100,000 jobs in Pakistan alone in the next two years and create points of sales [POS] not only in cities, but also in far-flung areas of the country as people won’t rely only on cash to make purchases.
“Foree will create POS… more and more people will be able to transact without any cash even in remote villages,” Hashwani said. “This is going to take out the COD [cash on delivery], and start digitizing the economy much more … This is going to start creating more jobs because more and more people will be able to take money without actually transacting into cash.”
Talking about the process to implement the initiative, Hashwani said it took a long time to get a license from the State Bank of Pakistan and integrate the app with banks to ensure its smooth functioning, adding that the State Bank had been “extremely supportive.”
As a first step, the company is working with Meezan Bank, which has at least one million customers, to launch the app in Pakistan in May.
About privacy and data protection of Foree users, Hashwani said all of the company’s servers were in Pakistan as part of a requirement to get licensed with the central bank.
“Everything is housed here, so security is enabled in that way and not compromised at all,” he said. “We believe in simple, fast and secure digital payments for everyone, and we are going to ensure it too through stringent checks.”
Pakistani businessman to launch payment app ‘Foree,’ will boost Middle East remittances
https://arab.news/9srut
Pakistani businessman to launch payment app ‘Foree,’ will boost Middle East remittances
- Foree, Urdu word for ‘immediately’, is an app that allows users to aggregate all bank accounts and cards into a single app
- Murtaza Hashwani, CEO of Pakistani conglomerate Hashoo Group, is one of the seed investors and chairman of the Foree board
As Middle East war jolts oil markets, Pakistanis rethink how they live and work
- Petrol prices in Pakistan jumped Rs55 ($.20) per liter after global crude surged past $110
- Oil has since fallen but uncertainty persists as war threatens global supply routes
ISLAMABAD: When Muhammad Ibraheem started his workday earlier this week, he didn’t head out to meet clients across Islamabad. Instead, he opened his laptop for a remote meeting, one of several adjustments he has made since Pakistan announced a record increase in fuel prices.
The South Asian nation of more than 240 million people is struggling to absorb a 55-rupee-per-liter jump in petrol prices, the largest single increase in the country’s history. The hike, announced last week, pushed petrol to a record 321.17 rupees ($1.15) per liter, driving up transport costs and forcing many Pakistanis to rethink daily routines.
The price shock came after global crude briefly surged above $110 per barrel amid escalating war in the Middle East involving the United States, Israel and Iran, raising fears that disruptions to the Strait of Hormuz, a transit route for roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil supply, could choke global energy flows.
Oil prices have since retreated from those highs as markets weigh the possibility of de-escalation, but volatility remains high and governments dependent on imported fuel, including Pakistan, are bracing for further swings.
“The sudden increase in petrol prices is like a bomb being dropped on the public,” Ibraheem, the 37-year-old founder of a digital marketing firm, Technology Village, told Arab News. “It has shaken the middle class completely.”
The Pakistani government, managing a fragile economic recovery under strict International Monetary Fund (IMF) conditions, defended the decision as necessary to prevent supply disruptions.
Addressing a midnight press conference in Islamabad, Petroleum Minister Ali Pervaiz Malik said last week the government was facing “unusual circumstances” because of the regional war, noting that “the fire that ignited in our neighborhood has engulfed the entire region.”
He explained that the surge left the administration with “no option but to raise domestic petroleum prices to avoid any disruption in the country’s energy supply.”
Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar also stressed the necessity of the move, saying that while the government aimed to “pass on the minimum effect to the end consumer,” it ultimately had “little choice” but to do so to stabilize national finances and meet commitments linked to IMF consultations.
For Ibraheem, however, the arithmetic of everyday life has changed overnight.
“I had a drive of 60 to 70 kilometers (37 to 43 miles) on a daily basis,” he said, explaining that his routine involved commuting to the office and traveling across the city to meet clients.
“But after the petrol price hike, I now have to think about other things as well. One is to move my office closer to home and to schedule meetings with clients, whom I used to meet daily, on a bi-weekly or monthly basis.”
For frequent meetings, he now relies on video calls instead of driving across the city.
But the impact extends far beyond commuting. In Pakistan, where transportation costs feed directly into food prices and supply chains, any rise in petroleum prices quickly pushes up the cost of basic goods.
“With petrol prices rising, the cost of our daily necessities, like vegetables, fruits and other items, also increases,” Ibraheem noted. “But when petrol prices fall, the prices of other items do not always decrease.”
At a fuel station in Islamabad’s F-6 sector, manager Talib Hussain said demand had already started to drop.
“Usage has decreased, many people who had routine usage have reduced it, and even extraordinary usage has declined,” Hussain told Arab News.
“There is a significant difference in filling,” he added.
Fuel retailers are also feeling the pressure because their commissions depend on the volume of fuel sold rather than price, meaning falling consumption reduces their margins even as the cost of maintaining inventory rises.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has ordered a weekly review of fuel prices, replacing the traditional fortnightly adjustment, to ensure that any declines in global markets are passed on to consumers more quickly.
He has also directed provincial authorities to crack down on hoarding and profiteering, while announcing measures to reduce fuel consumption, including shutting down schools, and ordering fewer working days for government offices and expanded remote work.
For many Pakistanis already coping with high electricity bills, stagnant wages and rising living costs, however, the shift in lifestyle may outlast the current crisis.
As Ibraheem prepares for more online meetings, driving has begun to feel less like a routine part of life and more like a luxury.
“My colleagues are even thinking about leaving their cars and coming to the office using motorcycles or bicycles,” he said.
