Islamabad ( Web News )
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said that a digital transaction system is essential to bring transparency to the economy, and it is necessary to facilitate payments between citizens and businesses.
A weekly meeting chaired by the Prime Minister was held on the promotion of a cashless and digital economy, in which digital transactions were declared a key means of bringing transparency to the economy.
The Prime Minister stated that it is the need of the hour to promote a digital system to simplify and speed up payments between citizens and businesses. He directed that the committees established on the subject of a cashless economy should consult all stakeholders and present practical proposals soon.
The meeting was informed that three committees formed in the previous session — the Digital Payments Innovation & Adoption Committee, the Digital Public Infrastructure Committee, and the Government Payments Committee — have been established and provided the Prime Minister with a detailed briefing on the digitization strategy of the economy.
It was further informed that the State Bank of Pakistan is devising a strategy to simplify digital payments and bring the business community into this system. Preparations have been completed to introduce a special package for the inclusion of small businesses.
Targets have been set to increase the number of mobile phone app users for digital payments from 95 million to 120 million, the number of QR code-using merchants from 0.9 million to 2 million, and total digital transactions from Rs. 7.5 billion to Rs. 12 billion. However, the Prime Minister instructed that all these targets should be doubled.
The meeting was further informed that under the “Digital National Pakistan” initiative, the digital economy project has already been launched. The Islamabad City App has been downloaded 1.3 million times so far and offers 15 services.
Through this app, over Rs. 15.5 billion has been collected under Excise and Taxation. Work is progressing rapidly on the “Digital Pakistan ID” project, and e-stamping facilities will soon be introduced in Islamabad.
It was also shared that efforts are underway to provide Wi-Fi internet facilities in hospitals, educational institutions, government offices, parks, and metro bus lines in the federal capital. The Prime Minister directed that these services be extended to Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan, and other federal territories as well.
The meeting was attended by Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Shaza Fatima, Federal Minister for Petroleum Ali Pervaiz Malik, Prime Minister’s Adviser Dr. Tauqir Shah, Minister of State for Finance and Railways Bilal Azhar Kayani, and other senior officials.