A meeting with Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, on Tuesday, was apprised that the number of individuals benefiting from digital banking in the country exceeded to 127 million.
The prime minister commended the economic team and the State Bank of Pakistan for shifting salaries, pensions and vendor payments by the federal and provincial governments to the ‘Raast’ digital payment system.
The prime minister chaired a review meeting on the promotion of cashless economy in the country.
During the meeting, it was apprised that from a period of July 2025 to January 2026, payments amounting to worth Rs 1.6 trillion were made through Raast by the federal and provincial governments.
The prime minister appreciated the ministry of finance team for the achievement.
The meeting was attended by Ministers Muhammad Aurangzeb, Ahad Khan Cheema, Attaullah Tarar, Shaza Fatima Khawaja, Ali Pervaiz Malik, Minister of State Bilal Azhar Kayani, Governor State Bank Jameel Ahmad, provincial chief secretaries and other senior officials, PM Office Media Wing said in a press release.
The prime minister also appreciated Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) team for provision of financial assistance to 71 percent of eligible beneficiaries so far under the PM’s Ramazan Relief Package.
The meeting was further informed that in last year, 24 percent of beneficiaries had received the amount by the 12th day of Ramazan, whereas this year, due to timely measures taken on the prime minister’s special instructions, the distribution ratio has surpassed 71 percent.
The prime minister directed all government institutions to provide QR codes on all bills to facilitate citizens for making payments.
The ministry of finance, the State Bank, BISP, the ministry of information technology and other relevant institutions briefed the meeting on measures taken to promote digital payments in the country. A briefing was also given on the dashboard related to the digital payments ecosystem.
The prime minister directed that targets set for the digital payments system be achieved within the stipulated time frame.