Prime Minister Directs Authorities to Double Targets for Digital and Cashless Economy Advancement

Islamabad: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has directed relevant authorities to double their targets for advancing the digital and cashless economy. This directive came during a weekly meeting held at the Prime Minister’s House, Islamabad, where the focus was on promoting digital transactions to enhance transparency in the economy.
During the meeting, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif emphasized the urgent need to promote digital systems to facilitate faster and more convenient payments between citizens and businesses. He stated that digital payments are a fundamental tool in ensuring greater transparency in the economy.
The Prime Minister instructed the committees established for promoting a cashless economy to work in consultation with all stakeholders and present actionable proposals at the earliest.
The meeting was briefed that the Digital Payments Innovation and Adoption Committee, Digital Public Infrastructure Committee, and Government Payments Committee had already been formed following a previous session. These committees provided detailed updates on the strategies for the digitalization of the economy.
It was shared that the State Bank of Pakistan is working on a strategy to make digital payments easier and to involve the business community in this process. Special packages for the inclusion of small businesses are also in the final stages of preparation.
The target is to increase the number of mobile application users for digital payments from 95 million to 120 million, raise the number of merchants using QR codes from 0.9 million to 2 million, and boost total digital transactions from 7.5 billion rupees to 12 billion rupees. However, Prime Minister Sharif directed that all these targets be doubled.
The meeting also highlighted that under the “Digital National Pakistan” initiative, several digital economy projects have already begun. The Islamabad City App has been downloaded 1.3 million times and offers 15 services. More than 15.5 billion rupees have already been collected through this app in Excise and Taxation fees. Work on the “Digital Pakistan ID” project is also progressing rapidly, and e-stamping services will soon be introduced in Islamabad.
Further updates included ongoing efforts to provide Wi-Fi internet services in hospitals, educational institutions, government offices, parks, and metro bus lines in the federal capital. The Prime Minister also instructed that these facilities be extended to Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan, and other federal regions.
The meeting was attended by Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Shiza Fatima, Federal Minister for Petroleum Ali Pervez Malik, Prime Minister’s Advisor Dr. Taqi Shah, Minister of State for Finance and Railways Bilal Azhar Kiani, and other senior officials.