Comment by Riaz Haq on June 28, 2020 at 6:41am

Minister Fawad Chaudhry: #Pakistan now among few countries producing their own #ventilators. The country would be able to meet its own need for ventilators and would also be able to export the equipment. #COVID19 https://tribune.com.pk/story/2252213/1-pakistan-now-among-countries...

Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry said on Sunday that the first batch of ventilators manufactured in Pakistan will be delivered to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) in the coming week.

In a video statement, he said that Pakistan has joined the ranks of those few countries which are producing their own ventilators.

According to the minister, the ventilator is a “complicated machine and not a lot of countries in the world have the capacity to make this”.

The minister expressed hopes that the country would be able to meet its own need for ventilators and would also be able to export the equipment.

“When the first Covid-19 case was recorded in February 26, we were not producing anything. Within a few months, we have become capable of producing our own equipment,” he said, congratulating the Pakistan Engineering Council, National Radio and Telecommunication Corporation (NRTC), scientists and technicians.

Chaudhry also tweeted earlier in the day, announcing that eight to 10 ventilators manufactured in the first batch will be delivered to the NDMA.

He said the next three designs are also in their final stages, after which Pakistan will be among the few countries in the world that manufacture complex medical machines, in accordance with European Union (EU) standards.

Comment by Riaz Haq on July 4, 2020 at 10:33am

Pakistan #pharma industry growing fast. #Pakistan’s domestic #pharmaceutical firms sales have grown 13.1% CAGR in last 4 years, outperforming multinational companies (MNCs), which saw global growth of 9.34% CAGR, according to global industry group IQVIA. https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/681143-pakistan-s-domestic-pharmac...

Emerging faster than the MNCs, the local pharmaceutical companies’ quarterly revenues surged to Rs320 billion till March 31, 2020 compared with Rs195.75 billion as of March 31, 2016. Similarly, MNCs increased their quarterly market size to Rs143.2 billion by the end of the first quarter of 2020 as against Rs100.2 billion in Q12016.

IQVIA is a global provider of information, innovative technology solutions and contract research services with operations in more than 100 countries.

Due to high rupee depreciation, overall industry growth in dollar terms in the first quarter of 2020 remained negative. In dollar terms, national companies witnessed CAGR of 2.41 percent in last four years compared with MNCs, which grew at a CAGR of negative 1.01 percent in the same period, the report said. The pharmaceuticals have remained functional during the Covid-19 pandemic and in fact registered growth.

Pakistan Economic Survey 2019-20 disclosed that the pace of contraction diminished in the pharmaceutical sector, as it registered 5.38 percent decline during July to March in FY2020 as compared to 8.66 percent decline in the corresponding period the previous year. Also, the pharmaceutical sector recorded the highest sales in March, while it fetched $1.3 million foreign direct investment (FDI) in April 2020. Analysts believe at the present growth rate the market size for pharmaceuticals would double in the next 10 years in Pakistan.

But the impact of the pandemic would be severe in the coming months, as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has revised down its world GDP projections and now expects a contraction of 4.9 percent in 2020.

“Apart from the last three months, the next twelve months will also be very tough for the Pakistan economy,” said Taha Khan Javed, Head of Equities at Al Meezan Investment. “The outlook for Pakistan GDP is also precarious with growth for next fiscal year expected to be only 1-2 percent, much below the normal growth 3-5 percent we have seen in the past.”

Javed said few industries including the pharmaceuticals of the country could play a vital role in their capacity to help the national economy. He suggested the pharmaceutical industry to ramp up production capacity, and collaborate with international pharmaceutical companies to bring critical medicines in the country and eventually aim for joint venture investment of production facilities.

“The government should ensure that timely price increases are given to companies so that they have incentive to increase their investment instead of relying on only imported medicines,” he added.
------------------

Medicine spending growth in the pharmerging markets
continues to slow compared to the past five years and
is projected to grow at 5–8% through 2023. Although
China, Brazil and India have the greatest medicine
spending within the pharmerging markets, Turkey,
Egypt and Pakistan are forecast to have the greatest
growth between 2019 and 2023 (see Exhibit 4).
Pharmerging market growth continues to derive
primarily from increasing per capita use, but some
markets are seeing wider uptake of newer medicines as
patients’ ability to afford their share of costs improves
with economic growth.

https://www.iqvia.com/-/media/iqvia/pdfs/institute-reports/the-glob...

Comment by Riaz Haq on July 4, 2020 at 7:13pm

#Pakistan's top 5 #pharma, incl GSK, Abbott, and AGP Pharma, increase profits by 37% in Q1/2020 over same period last year, to Rs2.6 billion while profits of 13 #consumer giants, incl Nestle, Packages, Pakistan Tobacco, Colgate, remained flat amid #COVID19 https://profit.pakistantoday.com.pk/2020/06/14/the-lockdowns-devast...


On the flip side, manufacturers of consumer discretionary items such as automobiles did terribly. Kumar had grouped four companies under consumer discretionaries: the three car manufacturers Indus Motors, Honda Atlas, Pak Suzuki Motors, and Thal Ltd, which manufactures jute products. The total profits of all three fell by 39% to Rs2.9 billion.

Meanwhile consumer staples – which includes 13 companies such as Nestle, Packages, Pakistan Tobacco, Colgate, among others – saw profits remain more or less stagnant, with a growth of 1% YoY to Rs8.35 billion.

“Overall slowdown in economic activity and country-wide lockdown starting during the last week of Mar-2020 in the wake of COVID-19, resulted in lower consumers’ purchasing power,” noted Kumar.

The pandemic, it seems, forced consumers to pause and consider exactly what they were opening their wallets for. In the midst of pay cuts, lay-offs, and general job uncertainty, consumers decided this was the worst possible time to buy a car.

Food and cleaning products, or items that are manufactured by Nestle, Unilever or National Foods, are deemed more of a necessity, even though this sector saw an increase in overall prices. The same goes for pharmaceuticals, which are necessities that consumers will often cut back on other spending for in order to be able to continue to afford them. This holds particularly true during a climate of a global pandemic.

This is reflected in the sales numbers as well. Sales for discretionary items (at this point, we will just call it autos), declined by 32% YoY in the first quarter of 2020. But the sales of consumer staples and pharmaceuticals, saw an uptick of 8% YoY and 7% YoY, respectively.

“We believe, due to country wide lockdown amid COVID-19 outbreak, the overall sales of the consumer segment will be affected due to supply chain disruptions, wherein consumer discretionary firms are likely to take the hit most among others,” said Kumar.

So first, let us look at the problem sector: autos. The overall slowdown in economic activity and country wide lockdowns, meant that sales took a hit. Foreseeing this, many such as Indus Motors and Honda Atlas sharply hiked their prices, in order to salvage some semblance of a profit. They should not have bothered: volumes witnessed a contraction of over 50% YoY, leading to a massive overall decline.

Of the three auto companies, Indus fared a little better, with its sales only declined by 20% YoY, compared to Honda Atlas’ 35% YoY fall, and Pak Suzuki’s abysmal 48% decline. According to the report, Indus also helped buoy the overall gross margins of this sector, which increased by 0.11 percentage points to 8.8%.

Now, to consumer staples. Much of the higher revenue in staples was actually driven by an increase in the prices of goods, as the rupee’s devaluation led to costs being passed on to consumers. There was also an increase in volumes compared to last year. Much of this growth in Kumar’s sample size was led by National Foods, which saw a 28% increase in sales compared to last year, and Unilever Pakistan Foods, which saw a 17% increase.

Comment by Riaz Haq on July 6, 2020 at 11:13am

#Pakistan Rolls Out First Locally Produced #Ventilators to Fight #COVID19 . #ImranKhan has inaugurated the production unit in Haripur #KPK with the capacity to manufacture 300 ventilators a month and handed over first batch to NDMA. #coronavirus https://www.voanews.com/south-central-asia/pakistan-rolls-out-first...

Pakistan has rolled out its first ever locally produced ventilators for deployment at hospitals treating coronavirus patients as the national tally of COVID-19 infections rises to nearly 232,000.

The pandemic has killed about 4,800 people since late February when it reached the South Asian nation of about 220 million; however, officials have reported a consistent decline in new infections and deaths from the infection over the past week.

Prime Minister Imran Khan Monday inaugurated the production unit and handed over the first batch of ‘SafeVent SP100’ portable ventilators to the national disaster management agency.

The facility in the northern town of Haripur has a production capacity of up to 300 ventilators a month.

An official statement quoted Khan as describing production as “a landmark achievement” for Pakistan, which has long been criticized for importing crucial medical supplies, including ventilators, despite having developed sophisticated nuclear weapons.

Pakistan’s public health care system has for decades suffered from neglect, lack of funding and corruption, which encouraged expensive hospitals in the private sector to flourish in a country where about 25 percent of the population live below the national poverty line.

Science and Technology Minister Fawad Chaudhry recently told parliament there were only 1,400 functioning ventilators in government hospitals across the country when the pandemic hit it, immediately leading to an acute shortage of the life-saving equipment for critical coronavirus patients.

Pakistan’s close ally China, however, swiftly stepped in and sent urgent relief supplies, including hundreds of ventilators, millions of masks and testing kits, worth more than $55 million, enabling Islamabad to deal with the unfolding health-related crisis.

The United States also has pledged millions of dollars in new aid for Pakistan to help combat the ailment. President Donald Trump’s administration has already donated 100 ventilators to Islamabad out of a promised 200 machines.

Chaudhry, while hailing the U.S. “gesture of friendship,” said in a statement that Pakistan, in a short span of four months, has now begun its own large-scale production of sanitizers and personal protection equipment, noting the medical supplies are already being exported to the United States.

"In the next three years, Pakistan will have its own big medical and electromagnetic industry and I have no doubts that USA will be our major client,” the minister pledged.

Chaudhry also said three new manufacturing facilities in the public and private sector are being installed for commercial production of ventilators. He noted that Pakistan annually imports medical supplies worth more than $2 billion and pays an additional $1 billon in service agreements to run the equipment.

The minister said domestic production of medical equipment will save Pakistan much-needed foreign exchange and the country will be self-sufficient in next five years so it will not have to import any medical supplies.

Comment by Riaz Haq on July 11, 2020 at 5:24pm

#CoronaVirus Protection Gear Sales Reversing #Pakistan #Exports Fall. Exports of #PPE, #masks and other protective gear -- a new market -- have increased, says Abdul Razak Dawood. New export orders for #garments coming in. #COVID19
https://www.bloombergquint.com/global-economics/virus-protection-ge... via @BloombergQuint

Pakistan has “really moved fast into that area,” Dawood said, referring to PPE. The current year should be a better one than last, he said. South Asia’s second-largest economy, whose exports dropped 7% in the year ended June, isn’t alone in stepping up production of PPEs. Neighbor India has become the world’s second-biggest maker of PPE kits after a shortage at the beginning of the outbreak pushed it to boost local manufacturing. Supply chain disruptions caused by the pandemic has meant Pakistan secured its first sportswear order from Hugo Boss AG, according to Ijaz Akhtar Khokhar, chief coordinator at Pakistan Readymade Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association.

Pakistan plans to give tax incentives to any global brand that opens an office in the country, said trade adviser Dawood. The South Asian nation is looking to spur growth in the economy after its first contraction in 68 years in the year ended June. While exports dropped in seven out of the past 12 months, the rupee’s depreciation -- by more than 50% since late 2017 -- has made the nation’s shipments competitive globally, said Dawood. Dawlance, a local home appliances maker, exported microwaves to Bangladesh for the first time, while D.G. Khan Cement Ltd. has sent clinker to new markets such as China and Philippines. The cement maker has another order from the Philippines for supply of 20,000 tons as well as making more shipments to China, according to CFO Inayatullah Niazi.

Comment by Riaz Haq on July 12, 2020 at 4:55pm

VM Interactive, a #UK-based #digital #technology company, invests $250,000 in seed funding in #Pakistan’s #HealthTech #startup emeds.pk. #Covid_19 brings attention to #health sector | The Express Tribune
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2254458/angel-investors-eye-pakistans-...

The pandemic has brought healthcare sector to the fore in countries across the world and Pakistan’s health sector is no different. The coronavirus has exposed strengths and weaknesses in the system, which has caught the attention of angel investors.

Since the lockdown was imposed, online businesses enhanced their mark and the country’s health system witnessed a similar trend as well where a few large scale pharmacies initiated home delivery services and doctors set up e-clinics.

The trend of digitisation caught attention of VM Interactive, a UK-based digital technology company, which recently invested $250,000 in seed funding in Pakistan’s health-tech ecosystem through a locally indigenous start-up, emeds.pk.

VM interactive Chief Operating Officer Alex Kalavrezos said that having seen Pakistan’s tech industry grow by leaps and bounds, with the government focused on taking it to another level, the chance to invest in it during this time is an opportunity, which should not be missed.

“The recent pandemic has exposed vulnerabilities of healthcare systems around the globe, however, Pakistan is among the few countries that have performed relatively better,” Kalavrezos told The Express Tribune.

This shows that the country has the potential to rival some of the most developed health care systems around the world provided that a robust system is created for healthcare workers to flourish.

According to him, this was one reason why countless doctors and healthcare workers of Pakistani origin excel in western countries where healthcare systems are more developed.

“Having worked closely with the tech fraternity of Pakistan, I am familiar with the wealth of talent available here, so having first-hand knowledge and experience played a major role in convincing our investors,” Alex said.

The UK-based tech company is providing its support in terms of investments and training to the local start-up, which intends to revolutionise the concept of health-tech in Pakistan and counter the menace of fake medicines available widely in the market.

The management of the company plans to work with manufacturers to secure medicines and store them in its own warehouses rather than relying on third party suppliers.

“Medicines are temperature oriented and if a minimum temperature is not maintained, they expire,” said emeds.pk Chief Executive Officer Umaad Sheikh. “Small scale pharmacies do not consider this fact while operating business nor do they empower pharmacists to do so.

The start-up, which began operations in March 2020, received the seed investment last week.

Sheikh projected to receive next round of investment at the end of the year which would be utilised for expansion of company operations in Punjab and the rest of Pakistan.

Nevertheless, there are a handful of difficulties being faced and the company has sought help from the government in this regard.

“The government is working towards improving ease of doing business in Pakistan but to do that, a special zone for online investors should be materialised to cater to the needs of start-ups,” Sheikh said.

He stressed that tech-start-ups were the future and if government made efforts to uplift the ecosystem of this sector, all other sectors will improve alongside.

Currently, tech start-ups face issues in online payment facilities, banking sector paperwork and timely issuance of visas to foreign investors.

“The reason why most tech investors prefer India over Pakistan is the fact that our neighbouring country has a proper ecosystem in place and it facilitates them in all possible manners,” he said. “A little attention by the government in this regard will bring higher amount of tech investors to Pakistan.”

Comment by Riaz Haq on July 14, 2020 at 7:10pm

#IMF predicts #economic recovery in #Pakistan next year. Measures include: Rs1.2 trillion relief package, cash transfers to 6.2 million daily wagers, fast tax refunds for #exports, financial support to #SMEs & #farmers, #construction industry incentives. https://www.dawn.com/news/1568043

A gradual recovery in Pakistan is expected in the fiscal year 2021 as the country’s economy reopens, says a report released by the Inter­natio­nal Monetary Fund (IMF).

The report — “Policy Act­ions Taken by Countries” – reviews various steps Pakis­tan has taken since March to deal with the Covid-19 crisis.

The IMF notes that the near-term economic outlook of the country has worsened notably, and growth is estimated at –0.4 per cent in FY 2020.

According to this report, since mid-April, the federal government, in coordination with the provinces, has been gradually easing lockdown arrangements, by allowing ‘low-risk industries’ to restart operation and ‘small retail shops’ to reopen with newly developed Standard Operating Procedures.


In addition, restrictions on domestic and international movements have been lifted and educational institutes are expected to restart on July 15. ‘Selective’ lockdown arrangements remain in place, through the closure of shops on weekends and the sealing of specific areas of high risk.

A relief package worth Rs1.2 trillion was annou­nced on March 24, which is now being implemented and will be pursued in the fiscal year 2020-21. The report then details various measures taken by both federal and provincial governments to ease the economic impact of this pandemic.

Key measures by the federal government: elimination of import duties on emergency health equipment; cash transfers to 6.2 million daily wage workers, cash transfers to more than 12m low-income families; accelerated tax refunds to the export industry, out of which 65pc have already been disbursed, and financial support to SMEs and the agriculture sector.

The report notes that the economic package also earmarks resources for an accelerated procurement of wheat, support for health and food supplies, an emergency contingency fund, and a transfer to the Nat­ional Disaster Management Authority for the purchase of Covid-19 related equipment.

The report also mentions the provision of tax incentives to the construction sector to address the acute employment needs generated by the lockdowns.

The provincial governments, according to this report, have been also implementing supportive fiscal measures, consisting of cash grants to the low-income households, tax relief and additional health spending.

Comment by Riaz Haq on July 20, 2020 at 5:16pm

Was Pride Their Downfall? #UK's Chief Medical Officer Before #COVID19 #pandemic humbled #Europe: “Being rich massively hardens a society against epidemics” https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/20/world/europe/coronavirus-mistake...

--------------

But that confidence would prove their undoing. Their pandemic plans were built on a litany of miscalculations and false assumptions. European leaders boasted of the superiority of their world-class health systems but had weakened them with a decade of cutbacks. When Covid-19 arrived, those systems were unable to test widely enough to see the peak coming — or to guarantee the safety of health care workers after it hit.

Accountability mechanisms proved toothless. Thousands of pages of national pandemic planning turned out to be little more than exercises in bureaucratic busy work. Officials in some countries barely consulted their plans; in other countries, leaders ignored warnings about how quickly a virus could spread.

European Union checks of each country’s readiness had become rituals of self-congratulation. Mathematical models used to predict pandemic spreads — and to shape government policy — fed a false sense of security.

National stockpiles of medical supplies were revealed to exist mostly on paper, consisting in large part of “just in time” contracts with manufacturers in China. European planners overlooked the risk that a pandemic, by its global nature, could disrupt those supply chains. National wealth was powerless against worldwide shortages.

Held in high esteem for its scientific expertise, Europe, especially Britain, has long educated many of the best medical students from Asia, Africa and Latin America. On a visit to South Korea after a 2015 outbreak of the coronavirus MERS, Dame Sally Davies, then England’s chief medical officer, was revered as an expert. Upon her return home, she assured colleagues that such an outbreak could not happen in Britain’s public health system.

Now South Korea, with a death toll below 300, is a paragon of success against the pandemic. Many epidemiologists there are dumbfounded at the mess made by their mentors.--------------


Prof. Chris Whitty, Britain’s chief medical adviser, stood before an auditorium in a London museum two years ago cataloging deadly epidemics.

From the Black Death of the 14th century to cholera in war-torn Yemen, it was a baleful history. But Professor Whitty, who had spent most of his career fighting infectious diseases in Africa, was reassuring. Britain, he said, had a special protection.

“Being rich,” he explained.

Wealth “massively hardens a society against epidemics,” he argued, and quality of life — food, housing, water and health care — was more effective than any medicine at stopping the diseases that ravaged the developing world.

Professor Whitty’s confidence was hardly unique. As recently as February, when European health ministers met in Brussels to discuss the novel coronavirus emerging in China, they commended their own health systems and promised to send aid to poor and developing countries.

“Responsibility is incumbent on us, not only for Italy and Europe, but also for the African continent,” said Roberto Speranza, Italy’s health minister.

“The European Union should be ready for support,” agreed Maggie De Block, Belgium’s then health minister.

Barely a month later, the continent was overwhelmed. Instead of serving primarily as a donor, providing aid to former colonies, Western Europe became an epicenter of the pandemic. Officials once boastful about their preparedness were frantically trying to secure protective gear and materials for tests, as death rates soared in Britain, France, Spain, Italy and Belgium.

This was not supposed to happen. The expertise and resources of Western Europe were expected to provide the antidote to viral outbreaks flowing out of poorer regions. Many European leaders felt so secure after the last pandemic — the 2009 swine flu — that they scaled back stockpiles of equipment and faulted medical experts for overreacting.

Comment by Riaz Haq on July 21, 2020 at 1:14pm

#Pakistan #COVID19: Getz Pharma-University of Health Sciences (UHS-#Lahore) find hydroxychloroquine safe & effective. Interim results show HCQ with Azithromycin & Oseltamivir (Tamiflu) an 86% recovery rate at day 14 as compared to 67% in the placebo group. https://www.dawn.com/news/1570211

The preliminary results of the country’s largest drug trial on the coronavirus — Pakistan Randomized and Observational Trial to Evaluate Coronavirus Treatment (PROTECT) — has not only established the safety of hydroxychloroquine, a drug generally used for malaria, in terms of mortality but has also shown significant recovery rates in Covid-19 patients when used in combination with two other drugs- azithromycin and oseltamivir.

The claims, as well as the results, were made public here at the University of Health Sciences (UHS), on Monday, in a ceremony, which was presided by Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar and attended by Punjab Minister for Higher Education Raja Yassir Humayun Sarfraz, vice chancellors of the medical universities, researchers and faculty members.

Releasing the results of the study, UHS Vice Chancellor Prof Javed Akram, who is also its principal investigator, clarified that it aimed at evaluating hydroxychloroquine alone and in various drug combinations as treatment of the coronavirus.

“It is a multicentre, multiarm, adaptive, randomized control drug trial aimed at newly diagnosed patients,” he informed the participants in the ceremony.

He said the study found that the coronavirus patients, who received the three drugs combined, had a recovery rate of 86pc.

UHS VC Prof Javed Akram told the participants that the drug trial was launched on April 30, after the approval from the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) and the National Bioethics Committee (NBC).

He added that 12 centres, including 10 universities from eight cities, were included in the study. The study enrolled Covid patients over the age of 18 who were divided into eight groups. The patients included in the research were 60pc male and 40pc female. The three medicines were given to seven groups, each consisting of 60 to 65 patients, alone and in different combinations, while one control group was given nothing.

Prof Javed Akram disclosed that the rate of recovery from the combination of the three drugs was the highest at 86pc. The second highest recovery rate was 75pc from azithromycin. The overall recovery rate of the patients, who were given medicines, was 73.1pc while the rate of recovery without medicines was 67pc. The 27pc of patients remained Corona-positive even two weeks after taking the drug. Of the patients who were not given any medication, 33pc remained Corona-positive even after two weeks.

The UHS VC added that the recovery rate in the first week of research was 33.5pc while in the second week, it increased to 72.2pc.

Initially, the PCR test was used as a basis for research. He said a total of four deaths were reported during the study. Three deaths occurred in groups receiving single medicine, while one death occurred in the group receiving a combination of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin.

Mr Akram made it clear that the study was still in progress and it would involve around 9,500 patients when completed. He added that Rs30m had been spent on research so far, which the university had collected from its own resources and through donations.

King Edward Medical University VC Prof Khalid Masood Gondal, in his address, said if the standard operating procedures (SOPs) were implemented on Eidul Azha, the coronavirus would be under control by September.

Paying a tribute to the front line health workers, Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar said the nation would always remember the valour with which the health workers fought against the virus.

“A memorial wall is being erected at the Governor House in recognition of the services of the health workers that would bear the names of all the front line soldiers,” he added.

Comment by Riaz Haq on July 21, 2020 at 4:13pm

#Pakistan Central Bank (SBP) okays pilot operation of PayFast #ecommerce gateway. Large number of Pakistanis switched to #internet and #mobile banking & other #payments platforms since the start of #COVID19 pandemic. #DigitalPakistan | The Express Tribune https://tribune.com.pk//story/2255403/sbp-okays-pilot-operation-of-...

The State Bank of Pakistan has granted approval to the pilot operation of an e-commerce payment gateway.

PayFast aims to capitalise on over 80 million 3G/4G subscribers in Pakistan citing massive potential of e-commerce in the country.

The approval comes on back of a boom in online payments in the midst of Covid-19 pandemic as customer’s preferences shifted from cash to cashless means.

Nevertheless cash still remains dominant in the economy with over 90% of online transactions being conducted on cash on delivery mode, the company said.

In a statement on Friday, CEO of the platform Syed Adnan Ali said digitalisation is an indispensable need of the society particularly after the Covid-19 pandemic.

Detailing about the platform, he said it aimed at providing intuitive, reliable and a high standard solution to consumers while also contributing to the economy.

He voiced hope that the platform will act as a catalyst to digitalise the economy and promote a cashless economy in Pakistan.

He added that company’s portfolio included 12 major banks of Pakistan.

However, the company added that it has low number of merchants primarily due to dearth of cost effective, robust and secure online payment solutions compatible with multiple modes of integration such as Open APIs, plugins etc.

Last year, the central bank began implementation of digital micro-payment infrastructure system which allowed transfer of funds in almost real time aimed at bringing a rapid surge in online payments in public and private sectors.

After outbreak of Covid-19 in Pakistan, a huge number of Pakistanis switched to internet and mobile banking and other payment platforms in a bid to adopt precautionary measures against the pandemic.

Comment

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• …
• 8
• 9
• 10
• 11
• 12
• …
• 17
• Next ›
• Page