KARACHI: Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday launched Raast, a digital payment system for instant person-to-person (P2P) transactions, in a push to enhance the share of the formal economy and increase financial inclusion.
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.
Raast is Pakistan’s first instant payment system that enables end-to-end digital payments among individuals, businesses and government entities. The state-of-the-art Faster Payment System will be used to settle small-value retail payments in real time while at the same time provide cheap and universal access to all players in the financial industry including commercial and microfinance banks, government entities and fintechs, according to State Bank of Pakistan.
“The Raast initiative is to facilitate the common man to avail banking services through mobile phones,” PM Khan said at the launching ceremony in Islamabad. “It would create ease for the common man, especially those who were afraid of going to banks and it would also cut their cost of payments.”
The premier said the country’s 220 million population could be a great asset if brought into the formal economy through digital means. If the country did not take advantage of technological advancements, the majority of the population would become a burden, he added.
“Pakistan has one of the lowest saving rates in the world. The utilization of our banking system is low, this results in a low tax-to-GDP ratio,” PM Khan said. “The initiative will improve our saving rates because countries prosper only when the saving rates are improved.”
Central bank governor Dr. Reza Baqir said the initiative had been launched on the directives of the prime minister to ensure maximum financial inclusion.
“Raast person-to-person payment system will bring revolution in the country for financial inclusion by making it easier for people make transactions with each other,” Baqir said.
Explaining the four main features of the new system, the governor said: “The payment would be made in seconds, secondly there would be no banking fee, thirdly, mobile phone number would be their Raast ID number, and it would be linked to their bank accounts.”
The governor said due to measures taken to promote digital banking in Pakistan, the volume of e-banking transactions had increased to $500 billion during the last fiscal year “which is more than our $370 billion GDP.”
“Each year our e-banking transactions are surging by 30 percent,” he added.
Pakistan launches country’s first instant payment system for P2P transactions
https://arab.news/5zuwd
Pakistan launches country’s first instant payment system for P2P transactions
- Raast is Pakistan’s first instant payment system enabling end-to-end payments for individuals, businesses and government entities
- Pakistan has the third largest unbanked adult population globally with about 100 million adults without a bank account
Pakistan’s top military commander hails Saudi defense pact as ‘historic’ at scholars’ conference
- Asim Munir says Pakistan has a unique bond with the Kingdom, citing the ‘honor’ of helping safeguard the holy sites
- He says only the state can declare jihad, urging religious scholars to counter extremist narratives and promote unity
ISLAMABAD: Chief of Defense Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir on Wednesday described the country’s joint security pact with Saudi Arabia as a “historic” milestone, telling a gathering of religious scholars that Pakistan and the kingdom share a deep strategic relationship.
Signed in September, the Strategic Mutual Defense Agreement has solidified decades of Saudi–Pakistan defense cooperation, covering intelligence-sharing, counterterrorism and regional stability.
The two nations have long coordinated on defense matters, with Pakistani military personnel deployed in the Kingdom.
“The defense agreement [with Saudi Arabia] is historic,” he said in an address to the conference in the federal capital.
The top military commander said Pakistan regarded its connection with the Kingdom as unique.
“Among all Muslim countries, Allah has given Pakistan the honor of helping safeguard the Haramain,” he continued, referring to the two holiest sites of Islam in Makkah and Madinah.
Munir used his speech to warn against extremism, saying that under the Islamic framework, only the state could declare jihad, a pointed reference to groups such as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which claims to act in the name of religion while carrying out attacks on civilians and security forces.
“When nations abandon knowledge and the pen, disorder takes hold,” he said, urging the religious scholars to help keep society unified and to “broaden the nation’s vision.”
Munir also criticized India, describing “terrorism” as “India’s habit, not Pakistan’s.”
His remarks came months after a four-day military confrontation in May, during which the two nuclear-armed neighbors exchanged artillery and missile fire and deployed drones and fighter jets.
India blamed Pakistan for a militant attack in Indian-administered Kashmir before launching a missile attack. Islamabad denied involvement and called for an international probe.
Pakistan claimed it had shot down six Indian fighter jets before a US-brokered ceasefire took effect.
“We do not hide when confronting the enemy,” Munir said. “We challenge openly.”
