Islamabad, 2 September, 2026 (Ghufran): Minister of State for Finance Bilal Azhar Kayani chaired a high-level review meeting at the Finance Division today to prepare for the upcoming review of the Prime Minister’s Cashless Initiative. The meeting was attended by senior officials from the Ministry of Finance, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), Capital Development Authority (CDA), Ministry of IT and Telecommunication, and representatives of the private sector. The Minister reviewed progress on the directives issued by the Prime Minister and outlined key priorities to accelerate Pakistan’s digital financial transformation. A key focus of the meeting was to review progress made during the last year and initiate the process of setting annual performance targets for the national Cashless Dashboard for the current fiscal year. The meeting also discussed the introduction of new analytical indicators to strengthen real-time monitoring, improve transparency and enhance data-driven decision-making. The participants evaluated last year’s growth in active digital merchants, total digital transaction volumes and the number of digital banking users. Progress on digitizing government payments across State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) and autonomous bodies was also assessed.
The meeting reiterated the objective of fully digitizing vendor, employee and pension payments across government institutions. The committee also discussed strategies to expand digital merchant adoption across the country and proposed the establishment of a centralized merchant database to improve real-time visibility of digital transactions. Participants further emphasized the need to streamline digital payment user journeys so that citizens can make seamless digital payments across all relevant touchpoints.Highlighting Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s vision, Minister Bilal Azhar Kayani reaffirmed the government’s commitment to building a transparent, documented and inclusive economy through accelerated digital financial transformation. He said regular progress reviews would continue to ensure swift implementation of the Cashless Initiative, strengthen digital financial systems and provide maximum convenience to the public. The meeting emphasized the importance of coordinated efforts among government institutions, financial regulators and private-sector stakeholders to achieve the targets of a cashless and digitally enabled economy.