ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is working on launching the country’s first digital currency, as the State Bank of Pakistan Governor Jameel Ahmad informed the Senate Standing Committee on Finance that they had been in contact with the top peers from around the world.
He said they were having consultations with around 10 top central banks which had been looking into the initiative and digital currency would be introduced only after thorough a review and completion of the project.
Digital currency has become a hot topic for the policymakers around the world as the EU member states and institutions want to ensure they are in charge, not the private sector – in complete contrast to what we have witnessed in the United States.
European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis has made financial stability the centrepiece of a new push to convince member states and the European Parliament to endorse a digital version of the 20-nation common currency.
A digital euro, he argues, is essential so that the EU does not fall “behind the curve” in global payments, private-label digital currencies and electronic versions of central bank money.
Under the proposal, the European Central Bank would have control over who can use the digital euro, how it will be used internationally, and how much people can hold at one time. At the same time, the plan calls for a digital European currency to have an international role, part of efforts to shore up the euro as a global reserve currency.
