Pakistan govt prioritizes DPI, cashless economy

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said his government is prioritizing the digitization of Pakistan’s economy and the shift of financial transactions toward a cashless, digital system.

In addition, the South Asian country of 240 million people has plans to build digital public infrastructure to issue digital IDs to every citizen. These IDs will integrate national identity cards, biometric data and mobile numbers, to enable more efficient electronic payments.

Sharif has directed all provincial governments to work closely with the federal government to extend the State Bank’s Raast digital payment platform to district-level users. The prime minister was pleased with recent strides toward a cashless economy, with progress made linking government-to-public and public-to-government payments through Raast.

The Raast system has handled over 892 million transactions amounting to Rs20 trillion (US$70 billion) as of July, since it launched in 2021.

To support the rollout of digital IDs, Pakistan’s federal development agencies have granted right of way for expanded fiber connectivity, and talks are underway with Pakistan Railways and the National Highway Authority to expand digital infrastructure, reports Arab News.

Sharif also highlighted two recent initiatives: the Merchant Onboarding Framework, which requires banks and payment providers to equip all merchants with Raast-enabled QR codes and point-of-sale terminals, and the establishment of the Pakistan Digital Assets Authority to regulate emerging blockchain-based financial services.

With a fiscal-year tax collection target of Rs14.131 billion (US $49.46 billion) for 2025–26, a nine percent increase over last year, the prime minister emphasized that a robust digital payments ecosystem is essential for widening the tax base, reducing corruption and strengthening governance.

Insights from Development Asia have pointed to digital payments and IDs as key to financial inclusion, with Pakistan having a significant number of unbanked people. Many do not have birth and identity documents, restricting access to financial services, healthcare, mobile connectivity and digital rights.

Pakistan is also in the process of launching a national Agri Stack, which aims to streamline farmer access to credit, subsidies and markets, in part by issuing them digital IDs and linking the credentials with other records. However, as seen in neighboring India, such an initiative can be challenging to implement. Agriculture remains a pillar of Pakistan’s economy as it accounts for around a fifth of GDP while employing more than a third of the workforce.

Article Topics

digital economy  |  digital ID  |  Digital Pakistan  |  digital payments  |  digital public infrastructure  |  Pakistan