Perplexed for what might be deemed as a matter of serious concern or an embarrassment on the part of the State Bank of Pakistan, freelancers are set to be denied their hard-earned money, they make for themselves using the well-known freelancing site Fiverr and also bringing in precious foreign exchange into the Country.
Fiverr is a multinational online marketplace for freelance services. Its platform connects freelancers to people or businesses looking to hire, encouraging a wide range of services in a free market.
Being among the top five nations in the world, Pakistanis annually generate a significant amount from freelancing using Fiverr, Upwork, Elance, and Freelancer platforms etc. Statistics says that Pakistani freelancers earned around US$ 400 million in the Fiscal Year 2021–2022.
However, now according to some reports, as per the Standard Chartered Call Center, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has requested that all transactions made on Fiverr be blocked as they have put the freelancing platform under a Trading Platform Category.
Reports say that now all outgoing monetary transactions on Fiverr have been blocked and freelancers can only withdraw their earned money.
Though the authenticity of such reports is yet to be ascertained but if it’s true, it might cause a devastating impact on thousands of freelancers who already remain concerned about the available limited payment options.
Apart from that, the main hilarious aspect which lies in such reports is about putting Fiverr under a Trading Platform Category by the Central Bank since it has nothing to do with any trading and basically provides freelancers with a platform to showcase their skills and connect with potential clients.