PM Shehbaz directs to ease digital transactions to promote cashless economy

Islamabad (Web Desk): Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has emphasized the need to make digital transactions more affordable and accessible in order to promote a cashless economy across the country.

Chairing a high-level meeting in Islamabad on Monday, he issued directives for the formation of three specialised committees to accelerate this transition.

These include the Digital Payments Innovation and Adoption Committee, the Digital Public Infrastructure Committee, and the Government Payments Committee.

These committees have been tasked with putting forward recommendations to simplify payments and transactions between the public and businesses, as well as between government institutions and the private sector.

Additionally, the committees will be responsible for launching awareness campaigns about digital systems, activating the Pakistan Digital Authority, and preparing a comprehensive national digital master plan to guide future initiatives.

PM Shehbaz also instructed authorities to expand the Raast Digital Payment System at both the federal and provincial levels.

He underscored the importance of establishing a digital transaction framework to enhance transparency within the economy. In line with this vision, he called for all transactions between the public and private sectors to be conducted through cashless means.

During the meeting, officials provided a briefing on the progress of establishing a nationwide cashless payments system.

It was revealed that around 40 million users are currently utilizing the Raast system, and efforts are underway to further increase user adoption.

It was also informed during the meeting that all federal government financial transactions are already being processed through the Raast system, with similar implementation ongoing at the provincial level.

In an important development, the meeting was informed that under the Smart Islamabad Pilot Project, the Ministry of Information Technology is actively working to transform Islamabad into Pakistan’s first cashless city.

The meeting was attended by Minister for Economic Affairs Ahad Khan Cheema, Minister for Petroleum Ali Pervaiz Malik, Minister for IT Shaza Fatima Khawaja, Minister for Climate Change Dr Musadik Malik, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) governor, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) chairman and senior officials from relevant institutions.