KARACHI: The Advisor to Federal Finance Minister, Khurram Schehzad emphasized that government is vigorously working on the digitization of the economy and promotion of cashless transaction in the country and all the government to person payments will be digitized by the end of fiscal year 2025-26.
He was speaking at the 5th Pakistan Future of Retail Business Summit and Expo 2025 under the theme of ‘Retail in Changing World: Call on building resilience in Pakistan’s commerce’. The event was attended by a wide array of retail business enterprises including banks, FMCGs, and various shopping malls, business brands and e-commerce companies.
The Advisor, while speaking in a session titled ‘Economic Reforms: The road ahead for Pakistan’s retail and E-commerce’, elaborated the government measures for promotion of cashless economy and digitization of the financial system. He said that the retail economy is a mainstay of the national economy and it constitutes a significant part of GDP.
He termed the consumption driven economy as a blessing in which people spend and production increases in proportion to the consumption by the people, and vowed that we have to back this rising trend of consumption through comprehensive reforms.
He said that inflation fell down to 5% from the highest level of over 35% during the last two years owing to reduction in energy cost and significant decrease in interest rate along with a mix of monetary, financial and administrative measures while the federal government is also pursuing taxation and structural reforms to address the fundamental issues.
Khurram Schehzad said that the government had announced significant incentives for promoting the cashless economy in June 2025 and the Prime Minister himself was leading the reform agenda. There are three verticals of the cashless economy, conversion, inclusion and adoption, he informed adding that government has shifted all its business to digital means and e-office system has been introduced while we are focused to digitize all the government to person as well as person to government transactions by the end of fiscal year 26.
After digitization of government business, he stated that the conversion of general business activities particularly the retail trade from manual to digital means was the part of future government strategy.
Elaborating the structural reforms agenda of the incumbent government, he informed that practical steps had been taken to segregate the tax policy from the tax collection as we believe that tax policy must not be revenue based but it should be value based. Now tax policy formulation has been brought under the domain of the finance ministry and experts from different relevant sectors will sit together to discuss and develop progressive taxation policy, he said and expressed the hope that results of these measures will be visible in the coming years.
The organizers of the summit and expo, Hamza Waseem Hashmi, Rana Tariq Mehboob, Asfandyar Farrukh and other participants, highlighted the objectives of the event and informed that it will help in capacity building coordination and exchange of experiences among the stakeholders.
The formal sectors of the economy kept performing well with integrity and dedication despite several challenges in previous years, they emphasized and vowed that we have to move forward in unison for business development and economic stability of the country.
They also urged the private sector to prioritize the data assessment for informed and swift decision making, understanding and serving the customer needs, trust building and strengthening capacity and resilience.
Earlier, the Advisor to the Finance Minister inaugurated the 5th Pakistan Future of Retail Business Summit and Expo 2025 and visited different stalls set up by different exhibition partners.
