PM Shehbaz Sharif Stresses Cashless Economy, Digital Payments Growth

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday ordered authorities to accelerate the country’s transition towards a cashless economy, emphasizing digital transformation as a cornerstone for sustainable growth and economic transparency.

Chairing a high-level meeting focused on promoting a cashless economy and digital payments, the Prime Minister lauded the economic team’s significant progress over the past year in advancing digital payment systems. He specifically highlighted a 300 percent increase in active merchants utilizing QR codes for digital payments during the last year, directing the team to enhance awareness campaigns to encourage broader adoption of QR-based solutions.

Officials briefed the meeting that the number of merchants accepting digital payments rose by 300 percent between June 2025 and June 2026, reaching 2,003,000. Mobile banking application users also saw a substantial increase, growing from 95 million to 137 million within one year. The Prime Minister acknowledged this growth as a significant achievement and urged banks and financial institutions to play a more proactive role in expanding digital financial services.

Furthermore, the Prime Minister directed that remittances from overseas Pakistanis should be fully digitized to enhance efficiency, transparency, and documentation of foreign inflows. The country recorded 11.9 billion digital transactions between July 2025 and June 2026, indicating a rapid adoption of electronic payment channels.