KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) is working on a strategy to streamline and simplify digital payment systems for merchants. The initiative aims to introduce an easy-to-use package designed to encourage small businesses to adopt digital payment methods.
This was revealed during a high-level weekly meeting on cashless and digital economy at the Prime Minister’s House on Thursday.
On the occasion, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif emphasised the need to facilitate payments between citizens and businesses and to raise awareness about the use of digital systems. He stressed to implement the digital transaction system across the country saying it was vital to bring transparency to the economy.
The premier instructed the committees formed for the cashless economy to work closely with all stakeholders to present doable recommendations.
During the meeting, the prime minister was briefed that following the previous meeting, the Digital Payments Innovation and Adoption Committee, the Digital Public Infrastructure Committee, and the Government Payments Committee had been established.
A detailed briefing was given with respect to the committees’ proposals and strategies regarding the digitization of the economy.
It was informed that the State Bank of Pakistan was developing a strategy to simplify and ease digital payment methods for merchants. The target is to increase the number of mobile app users for digital payments from 95 million to 120 million, and the number of merchants using QR codes will be increased from 0.9 million to 2 million.
The total volume of digital payments is aimed to increase from Rs 7.5 billion to Rs 12 billion.
The prime minister directed that all these targets should be doubled.
The meeting was further informed that the “Digital National Pakistan” project for the digital economy had been initiated. The Islamabad City mobile application has so far recorded 1.3 million downloads, offering 15 services.
Through the Islamabad City App, Rs 15.5 billion has been collected under ICT Excise and Taxation, the meeting was informed.
Work is progressing rapidly on the completion of the Digital Pakistan ID project, while E-stamping facilities will also be launched in Islamabad soon.
The meeting was further informed that efforts were underway to provide Wi-Fi internet services across Islamabad, particularly in hospitals, educational institutions, government offices, parks, and metro bus lines.
The prime minister instructed that all these facilities should also be introduced in all federal areas, Azad Jammu & Kashmir, and Gilgit-Baltistan.
The meeting was attended by Minister for Information Technology and Telecom Shaza Fatima, Minister for Petroleum Ali Pervaiz Malik, Prime Minister’s Advisor Dr. Tauqir Shah, Minister of State for Finance and Railways Bilal Azhar Kayani, and other senior government officials.
