In a significant move to accelerate the transition towards a cashless economy, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has directed all federal and provincial authorities to ensure that retail and commercial outlets across Pakistan display Raast QR codes by August 31, 2025.
This directive was issued to all relevant secretaries and heads of regulatory bodies, with clear instructions to ensure compliance within their respective jurisdictions. The goal is to create an accessible digital payment acceptance infrastructure across all businesses, retail stores, and service providers nationwide.
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has developed a comprehensive national implementation strategy that outlines the deployment of Raast QR codes, Point of Sale (POS) systems, and Soft POS solutions at commercial and retail touchpoints. This strategy aims to support digital payment adoption and streamline financial transactions across the country.
Given the interdepartmental scope of the initiative, the PMO is playing a central role in driving coordination among ministries, provincial governments, and regulatory bodies. The SBP has requested all authorities to ensure that all outlets under their oversight adopt digital payment methods without delay.
To support effective implementation, the PMO has outlined a set of mandatory actions:
- All departments must instruct retail businesses in their jurisdiction to acquire and display Raast QR codes by the end of August 2025.
- The presence of digital payment systems, including QR codes and POS terminals, will become a prerequisite for the issuance and renewal of commercial licenses.
- A compliance framework will be put in place, including the imposition of penalties on businesses that refuse to implement digital payment options.
- Ministries are instructed to facilitate coordination with SBP-regulated entities such as banks, microfinance banks, and electronic money institutions to help expand the acceptance network.
To centralize oversight and streamline inter-agency coordination, Dr. Shazia Ghani, Team Lead for Special Projects and Initiatives, has been appointed as the PMO’s focal person for this initiative. Ministries and provincial authorities are encouraged to coordinate with her office and the SBP to ensure smooth execution and to resolve any implementation challenges.
In parallel, the Ministry of Finance is also developing digital payment systems for government-to-person (G2P) and person-to-government (P2G) transactions. These steps are intended to improve transparency and efficiency, particularly in dealings involving state-owned enterprises (SOEs).
Revised targets for the State Bank’s digital payment initiative were recently approved. These include:
- Increasing the number of active QR code-based payment points from 0.5 million to 2 million.
- Requiring at least one digital transaction per month from each registered merchant.
- Growing the number of mobile/internet banking users to 120 million from the current 95 million by fiscal year 2026.
- Doubling the number of annual digital transactions from 7.5 billion to 15 billion.
- Ensuring that 100% of remittance disbursements are credited digitally into bank accounts or mobile wallets, up from the current 80%.
These initiatives represent a transformative push toward a digital financial ecosystem in Pakistan, reinforcing the government’s commitment to financial transparency, inclusion, and innovation.
