ISLAMABAD: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) will roll out a new feature from October 2021 this year allowing customers to use their mobile numbers instead of bank account numbers to receive instant payments, Pakistani media reported on Thursday.
Pakistan has the third largest unbanked adult population globally with about 100 million adults without a bank account, according to the World Bank. Phone-based banking has proven a hit among the poor in other emerging markets such as China, India and Kenya. Those efforts have been driven by private sector companies that offer user-friendly, affordable apps.
Whether Pakistan's state system will prove as nimble and easy to use remains to be seen. And it will initially require help from the very same banks that for decades have shut out low-income Pakistanis with pricey fees.
“A customer can link his/her mobile number ... with their bank account number under Raast (indigenous instant payment system),” SBP Payment System Department (PSD) Director Syed Sohail Javaad was quoted as saying by the Express Tribune. “This feature will be rolled out in October 2021.”
Speaking at the UBL Digital Mobile Commerce 2021 this week, Javaad said that in the near future, people would be able to use their mobile numbers instead of bank account numbers to receive instant payments.
Last month, Bloomberg reported that Islamabad-based fintech startup TAG Innovation Pvt. was set to become Pakistan’s first digital bank when it started operations in June in the world’s fifth most populous nation where 70% of adults don’t have a bank account.
TAG joins other digital payment startups in raising funds as digital banks take off in emerging markets where millions lack access to banking services. Razorpay, an Indian startup that facilitates digital payments, said in April it was raising $160 million, while Egyptian digital banking app Telda raised $5 million last month.
Pakistan pushes mobile phones over bank accounts to help unbanked consumers ditch cash
https://arab.news/vpx6y
Pakistan pushes mobile phones over bank accounts to help unbanked consumers ditch cash
- Central bank to roll out new feature from October 2021 allowing customers to use mobile numbers instead of account numbers to receive instant payments
- Pakistan has third largest unbanked adult population globally with about 100 million adults without a bank account
Pakistan says $50 million meat export deal with Tajikistan nearing finalization
- Islamabad expects to finalize agreement soon after Dushanbe signals demand for 100,000 tons
- Pakistan is seeking to expand agricultural trade beyond rice, citrus and mango exports
ISLAMABAD: Tajikistan has expressed interest in importing 100,000 tons of Pakistani meat worth more than $50 million, with both governments expected to finalize a supply agreement soon, Pakistan’s food security ministry said on Tuesday.
Pakistan is trying to grow agriculture-based exports as it seeks regional markets for livestock and food commodities, while Tajikistan, a landlocked Central Asian state, has been expanding food imports to support domestic demand. Pakistan currently exports rice, citrus and mangoes to Dushanbe, though volumes remain small compared to national production, according to official figures.
The development came during a meeting in Islamabad between Pakistan’s Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research Rana Tanveer Hussain and Ambassador of Tajikistan Yusuf Sharifzoda, where agricultural trade, livestock supply and food-security cooperation were discussed.
“Tajikistan intends to purchase 100,000 tons of meat from Pakistan, an import valued at over USD 50 million,” the ambassador said, according to the ministry’s statement, assuring full facilitation and that Islamabad was prepared to meet the demand.
The statement said the two sides agreed to expand cooperation in meat and livestock, fresh fruit, vegetables, staple crops, agricultural research, pest management and standards compliance. Pakistan also proposed strengthening coordination on phytosanitary rules and establishing pest-free production zones to support long-term exports.
Pakistan and Tajikistan have long maintained political ties but bilateral food trade remains below potential: Pakistan produces 1.8 million tons of mangoes annually but exported just 0.7 metric tons to Tajikistan in 2024, while rice exports amounted to only 240 metric tons in 2022 out of national output of 9.3 million tons. Pakistan imports mainly ginned cotton from Tajikistan.
