Overview
- Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif set a goal to onboard at least 2 million merchants to digital payments by June 2026 and tasked Minister of State Bilal Azhar Kayani with oversight.
- Fewer than 700,000 retailers were using any form of digital payments as of September, highlighting a wide merchant-adoption gap.
- Officials said electricity and gas bills can now be paid via Raast QR codes, with billions of rupees processed through the system.
- Authorities plan to operationalize 10 million BISP digital wallets by the end of the month, with the next assistance tranche to be disbursed through them.
- The government reported financial inclusion at over 68% and 112 million active digital-banking users, expanded Raast integration to Islamabad service apps, and moved ahead with digital bank licensing as trader resistance and infrastructure and cybersecurity constraints continue to slow uptake.