The Government of Pakistan has finally resolved the issue of pending payments to Google after weeks of clearance and permission issues.
Officials from the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication informed the Standing Committee on Information Technology that the longstanding Google payment issue had been addressed after the ministry approached the Finance Division to remedy the matter on priority.
They said all payments have been made to concerned companies on the Prime Minister’s orders.
Pertinently, the issue of a blockade on payments to international service providers started making headlines after the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) last month blocked payments of $34 million in direct carrier billing (DCB) to international service providers such as Google, Amazon, and Meta.
Upon refusal to lift the blockade, Google suspended carrier-paid apps in Pakistan.
Many other industries in the country are also suffering as the central bank has squeezed the opening of letters of credit (LCs).
The shortage of dollars in the country is so serious that the central bank is not opening LCs for the import of raw materials used in medicines with the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) warning of a potential shortage of medicines in the country.
