Alibaba launching Pak blockchain remittance programme

China's efforts to expand domestic goods into neighbouring countries have taken a blockchain-based twist with the announcement that Alibaba's Alipay is going to launch cross-border remittances between Malaysia and Pakistan, according to Asia Times.

The new service allows Pakistanis living in Malaysia to send money home using the Karachi-based Telenor Microfinance Bank's Easypaisa digital payment solution as well as via Malaysia's Telenor FinTech remittance company Valyou.

"This puts Pakistan on the map," Tariq Bajwa, the State Bank of Pakistan's governor said at a recent platform event in Islamabad that international remittances to Pakistan were worth around $20 billion per year, contributing around 6.0 per cent in GDP. This, said Bajwa, was "equivalent to over 50 per cent of our trade deficit, 85 per cent of exports and over one-third of imports during 2017-18."

"Very few countries in the world that have launched international remittances using blockchain technology, added Bajwa.

Roar Bjærum , Senior Vice President, Telenor Financial Services, said that currently, Pakistan receives about $1 billion in home remittances from Malaysia" and felt the platform's transparency and swiftness "will redefine international money transfer in the country."