Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday urged the nationwide implementation of a digital transaction system to enhance economic transparency. Presiding over a weekly cashless economy meeting at the Prime Minister’s House, Sharif stressed the importance of simplifying financial interactions between individuals and enterprises. He also highlighted the need for increased public awareness regarding digital systems usage. Sharif directed committees focused on a cashless economy to collaborate with stakeholders and formulate practical recommendations.

The Prime Minister was updated on the formation of several committees-Digital Payments Innovation and Adoption, Digital Public Infrastructure, and Government Payments-following the previous meeting. The committees presented proposals and strategies for economic digitization. The State Bank of Pakistan, it was reported, is developing a strategy to streamline digital payment methods for vendors, with a focus on incorporating small businesses. The initiative aims to expand mobile app users for digital transactions from 95 million to 120 million and increase QR code-using merchants from 0.9 million to 2 million. The goal is to boost the total digital payments volume from Rs 7.5 billion to Rs 12 billion. The Prime Minister instructed to double these objectives.

The ‘Digital National Pakistan’ project was also discussed. The Islamabad City mobile application, with 1.3 million downloads, currently offers 15 services and has collected Rs 15.5 billion in ICT Excise and Taxation. Progress continues on the Digital Pakistan ID project and E-stamping is slated to launch soon in Islamabad. Efforts are underway to provide Wi-Fi internet services across Islamabad, including hospitals, educational institutions, government buildings, parks, and the metro bus network. The Prime Minister directed to extend these services to all federal areas, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and Gilgit-Baltistan. Attendees included Minister for Information Technology and Telecom Shaza Fatima, Minister for Petroleum Ali Pervaiz Malik, Prime Minister’s Advisor Dr. Tauqir Shah, Minister of State for Finance and Railways Bilal Azhar Kayani, and other senior officials.