KARACHI: The government has decided to hook up with the Buna Payment System to streamline the inflow of remittances from Arab countries.
Once the system is in place, overseas Pakistanis will be able to send money straight into any local bank account.
However, they will not be able to receive funds through this channel.
During a meeting of the Standing Committee on Finance, State Bank Governor briefed Chairman Syed Naveed Qamar that by 2028, the target is to bring 75 per cent of the youth under digitalfinancial services, while a cashless economy will be rolled out across federal and provincial levels by June 2026.
He revealed that five licenses for digital payments have already been issued to companies including Easypaisa, JazzCash, and Mashreq Bank. To ease the load, the government has scrapped the 0.5 per cent merchant fee and will shoulder the cost itself.
Minister of State for Finance Bilal Azhar Kayani assured that consumers will not have to pay any charges on digital transactions.
According to the Finance Secretary, salaries, pensions, taxes, and utility bills of government employees will also go cashless.
The SBP governor disclosed that Pakistan currently has 95 million bank app users, out of 226 million bank accounts, 96 million are unique accounts, with 19,000 bank branches, 20,000 ATMs, and 850,000 QR merchants operating across the country.
At this point, Committee Chairman Syed Naveed Qamar raised a red flag, asking how effective this system would be when half of the economy remains undocumented. The committee suggested setting up a Digital Payments Protection Fund to safeguard consumers.
In an informal chat, the governor also disclosed that Pakistan will make a timely payment of $500 million Eurobond by September 30, which will not put pressure on foreign exchange reserves.
Out of the $26 billion debt payable this fiscal year, $3.5 billion has already been repaid, and the remaining will also be settled on time.
Meanwhile, the committee was informed that out of 447 companies in 2024, only 315 spent Rs22 billion on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), while 100 companies spent nothing at all.
The committee recommended making CSR spending mandatory in the future.
