KARACHI: Pakistan on Friday launched the National Payments System Strategy (NPSS) to boost its economic growth by seven percent, create four million jobs and attract $263 billion of new deposits by 2025, officials said.
State Bank of Pakistan Governor Dr. Reza Baqir and World Bank President David Malpass launched the NPSS in Karachi, targeting one million new Point of Sales (PoS) as part of the country’s plan to digitize its economy and achieve greater financial inclusion.
“The State Bank will continue to strengthen legal and regulatory framework [of the country] to bring it in line with the best international practices. Our main focus will be to digitize retail payments and introduce new digital instruments in the country. We would like to give the challenging target of digitizing a million new merchant locations within the next three years,” Dr. Baqir said at the launching ceremony of the NPSS at the headquarters of the country’s central bank.
The availability of PoS acceptance devices has grown more briskly than that of ATMs. By FY2019, there were 56,911 PoS acceptance devices in use, 48 for every 100,000 adults, according to the SBP. The central bank estimates that the digitization of payment system will represent a potential market of $36 billion by 2025.
Pakistan’s market is mainly dominated by cash-based commercial transactions with very little use of electronic payments, especially by micro and small retailers. The country’s economic managers hope that the digitization of the economy will also provide sufficient resources for investment purposes.
“Digital inclusion is part of our strategy which will ultimately provide pool of massive resources for financing investment in Pakistan,” Dr. Baqir said. “It will be easier to make and receive payments which will also help people save and plan their financial future better.”
Speaking on the occasion the World Bank president called on banks and other institutions to collaborate and increase the number of individuals and formal businesses using the system, saying: “An increase in the number of users will bring down the cost of transactions.”
Malpass also offered the help of the World Bank to implement the national payment strategy as part of the global push for digital financial inclusion. “The [State Bank] governor can call me or my team,” he added. “We have a very strong team in Pakistan with expertise, energy and drive. We want to help make [the system] work.”
Officials say the objective of the government’s strategy is to make recommendations to design a National Payments System that is in compliance with international standards and best practices, besides being tailored for specific circumstances and needs for a safe, efficient and inclusive National Payment Systems in Pakistan.
Pakistan launches national strategy to move from cash to electronic payment system
https://arab.news/8jzk2
Pakistan launches national strategy to move from cash to electronic payment system
- The country expects the change to result in seven percent economic growth rate by 2025
- The new payment mechanism will also result in greater financial inclusion in Pakistan
Pakistan says illegal immigration to Europe down 47 percent amid major crackdown
- Over 1,700 human smugglers arrested nationwide this year, interior ministry says
- EU praises Pakistan’s efforts as Brussels, Islamabad agree to deepen cooperation
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has achieved a 47 percent drop in illegal immigration to Europe this year, with more than 1,700 human smugglers arrested as part of an expanded nationwide crackdown, the interior ministry said on Thursday.
The announcement followed Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi’s meeting in Brussels with European Union Commissioner for Home Affairs and Migration Magnus Brunner, where both sides discussed efforts to curb human smuggling and strengthen migration cooperation.
Pakistan intensified action against illegal migration in 2023 after hundreds of migrants, including 262 Pakistanis, drowned when an overcrowded vessel sank off the Greek town of Pylos, one of the deadliest boat disasters in the Mediterranean. Authorities say they continue to target networks sending citizens abroad through dangerous routes, following heightened scrutiny at airports and a series of arrests involving forged documents.
“Commissioner Magnus Brunner paid strong tribute to the Government of Pakistan for achieving a 47 percent reduction in attempts to reach Europe through illegal ‘dunki’ routes during the past year and described Pakistan’s measures as exemplary,” the interior ministry said in a statement.
“Dunki routes” refer to irregular migration paths used by smugglers to move people across multiple borders toward Europe, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Pakistani authorities say the routes are controlled by transnational criminal networks that also engage in document fraud and other illicit activities.
“Mohsin Naqvi stated that 1,770 human smugglers and their agents have been arrested in Pakistan this year, which clearly reflects the government’s zero-tolerance policy against illegal immigration,” the interior ministry said.
It added that Pakistan and the EU agreed to coordinate future strategies against illegal immigration, human smuggling and drug trafficking, including deeper information-sharing between law enforcement bodies. Brunner would soon visit Pakistan to acknowledge the country’s efforts and discuss next steps in reducing irregular migration flows, the statement said.
It also quoted Naqvi as saying that the nexus between smuggling networks, drug mafias and militant groups posed a major challenge to Pakistan and required “international cooperation to confront it.”
Earlier in December, Pakistan announced it would roll out an AI-based immigration screening system in Islamabad from January next year to detect forged travel documents and prevent illegal departures.
In September, Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency released a list of more than 100 of the country’s “most wanted” human smugglers as part of its ongoing nationwide operation, identifying major hubs of trafficking activity across Punjab and the capital.
