Ahmad described PRISM+ as a \u201cstrategic asset\u201d that will enable the country\u2019s payment systems to meet future demands, support innovation, and enhance financial stability. Photo: File <\/p>\n
KARACHI: <\/p>\n
Pakistan’s drive towards a cashless economy is gaining momentum, but deep-seated structural challenges continue to slow the adoption of digital payments, according to industry leaders and a new banking sector report.<\/p>\n
“Despite progress, Pakistan’s digital payments ecosystem still trails regional and global benchmarks, with merchant economics and usage habits limiting adoption,” said Aamir Ibrahim, Chairman JazzCash International, in comments published in PwC Pakistan’s Banking Publication 2025.<\/p>\n
Pakistan remains one of the most cash-dependent economies in the region. Cash in circulation stood at about 34% of GDP as of June 2025, more than double the levels seen in countries such as India and Bangladesh, underscoring the scale of the undocumented economy, the report said.<\/p>\n
Government and regulatory initiatives are beginning to show results. The State Bank of Pakistan’s instant payment system, Raast, recorded 45 million registered IDs by June 2025, facilitating 1.3 billion transactions valued at Rs29.6 trillion, more than doubling in volume and value from a year earlier. The number of QR-enabled merchants also doubled to over one million during the same period.<\/p>\n
Still, analysts say adoption remains uneven. Only around 159,000 merchants are equipped with point-of-sale terminals compared with millions across regional peers, while mobile banking penetration stands at roughly 15% of total bank accounts, far below levels seen in other emerging markets.<\/p>\n
Ibrahim said widespread adoption would depend on making digital payments cheaper, simpler and safer than cash. “A user-friendly, widely accessible digital ecosystem that offers transaction costs lower than cash is crucial for driving adoption,” he said, adding that the industry must also rethink monetisation models to ensure affordability for merchants without undermining the economics for banks and payment providers.<\/p>\n
The central bank has echoed those concerns, highlighting the economic cost of cash-heavy transactions. “A sum of Rs11.5 trillion remains outside the formal banking system. Redirecting even 20-30% of this cash into banks would boost liquidity, enabling greater lending to priority sectors,” said Saleem Ullah, Deputy Governor at the State Bank of Pakistan, according to the report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ahmad described PRISM+ as a \u201cstrategic asset\u201d that will enable the country\u2019s payment systems to meet future demands,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":213159,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[72,61,60,4212,202,80],"class_list":{"0":"post-213158","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mobile","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-latest","12":"tag-mobile","13":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213158"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213158\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/213159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}