ISLAMABAD (The Thursday Times) — Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has ordered officials to draw up a roadmap, with deadlines, for making every payment in Pakistan digital, the Prime Minister’s Office said on Friday.
He gave the order while chairing a meeting in Islamabad on moving to a cashless economy, which he called one of the government’s top priorities. He told officials to fix users’ problems with digital payments immediately and to make sure internet access and technology reach every part of the country, the statement said.
What changes, and when: officials told the meeting that cheque payments through the government’s Asaan Assignment Accounts will stop from November 15 and be replaced nationwide by the Raast instant payment system, and that the officers who make these payments have already been trained. Payments by most federal and provincial government institutions are to be fully digital by December 2026, and all payments under the Benazir Income Support Programme already go through digital wallets, they said.
For bill payers: the prime minister ordered a media campaign to get electricity and gas consumers to pay using the Raast QR code printed on their bills, and said a scheme encouraging shoppers and shopkeepers to pay each other by Raast QR code should continue with government backing. To pay a bill this way, open your bank or wallet app, choose the option to scan a QR code and point it at the code on the bill.
Officials said work was also under way on a digital payment system for areas without internet access, and on infrastructure to bring the internet to the whole country. All ministries and government bodies were told to put the cashless economy plan fully into effect.
The prime minister set up a high-level committee to promote a cashless economy in June last year, and in July this year he directed that remittances from abroad be fully digitised.
