Pakistan’s government has ordered a comprehensive roadmap for 100% digital payments, with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif directing all federal and provincial institutions to adopt cashless systems and setting December 2026 as the target for full digitisation of most government payments. The directive, issued during a high-level meeting on promoting a cashless economy on November 6, 2026, according to the Prime Minister’s Office, builds on the existing Raast instant payment system and adds new urgency to a transition that has been gradual until now.

In Brief

  • PM Shehbaz Sharif ordered a time-bound roadmap for 100% digital payments on November 6, 2026, calling a cashless economy a top government priority
  • Government cheque payments under Asaan Assignment Accounts end November 15, 2026, shifting to Raast nationwide — drawing and disbursing officers have already been trained
  • Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) payments are already 100% digital through wallets
  • Raast QR codes are being expanded to utility bills for electricity and gas payments
  • Most federal and provincial government payments are targeted for full digitisation by December 2026
  • The directive includes developing offline payment solutions for areas without internet access
  • The announcement follows the SBP’s draft Open Banking Regulations released on October 30, 2026, which would enable third-party payment initiation and financial data sharing

What the Roadmap Actually Covers

According to reporting by ProPakistani on November 7, 2026, the Prime Minister’s directive includes several concrete measures:

Government payment digitisation. Most federal and provincial government payments are set to be fully digitised by December 2026. This is not a vague aspiration — the transition has already begun. Cheque-based payments under the Asaan Assignment Accounts system will be discontinued on November 15, 2026. From November 16, all such payments will move to the Raast digital payment system, with drawing and disbursing officers already trained.

Raast QR expansion. The Raast QR code payment system, already operational for merchant payments, is being extended to utility bills. QR codes printed on electricity and gas bills will allow consumers to pay directly through their bank accounts or wallets without visiting a bank branch or using cash. The PM ordered a media campaign to promote this payment method.

BISP as a proof point. The Benazir Income Support Programme — Pakistan’s largest social safety net — has already achieved 100% digital payment delivery through wallets. This is significant because BISP serves millions of beneficiaries across rural and underserved areas, demonstrating that digital payment infrastructure can reach beyond urban centres.

Offline payment systems. The directive acknowledges that internet connectivity remains a barrier in parts of Pakistan and calls for developing a digital payment system that works without internet access. This is a practical recognition of the infrastructure gap that has slowed digital adoption in rural areas.

Institutional compliance. All ministries and government institutions were told to fully implement the cashless economy plan. The PM directed officials to immediately resolve problems faced by digital payment users and ensure internet access and easy technology availability nationwide.

Raast: The Infrastructure Beneath the Push

Raast is Pakistan’s national instant payment system, developed by the State Bank of Pakistan with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Karandaaz Pakistan. It enables real-time, zero-cost digital transfers between bank accounts, wallets and government entities. The system is built on the IBFT (Inter-Bank Funds Transfer) rails and has been gradually expanding since its phased rollout began in 2021.

The system’s key features include instant settlement, no transaction fees for person-to-person payments, and QR code-based merchant payments that eliminate the need for point-of-sale hardware. For a country where card penetration has historically been low — Pakistan had approximately 47 million debit cards and 4 million credit cards as of 2024, according to SBP data cited in industry reports — Raast offers a payment rail that bypasses card infrastructure entirely.

What makes the current push different from earlier Raast promotion efforts is the government’s own commitment to digitise its payment flows. Until now, Raast adoption has been driven primarily by P2P transfers and a relatively small merchant base. Moving government payments — salaries, pensions, vendor payments, social transfers — onto Raast creates transaction volume at a scale that could normalize digital payments for millions of Pakistanis who have never used them.

How This Connects to Open Banking

The digital payments push does not exist in isolation. On October 30, 2026, the State Bank of Pakistan released draft Open Banking Regulations for public consultation, as we examined in our analysis of Pakistan’s open banking draft framework. Open banking would enable licensed Third-Party Providers to initiate payments and access financial data with customer consent — creating the regulatory foundation for fintech applications to build on top of bank-held data.

If implemented together, the two frameworks could be complementary. Open banking provides the API infrastructure for third-party payment initiation, while the PM’s directive creates the demand-side push by mandating digital payments across government operations. The SBP’s first Regulatory Sandbox cohort, which ran from January to June 2026, already included open banking and remittance participants — four of which successfully demonstrated their solutions.

For fintech founders, this matters because it suggests the regulatory environment is moving from isolated initiatives toward a coordinated digital finance stack: instant payments (Raast), open APIs (open banking), and government-mandated adoption (the cashless roadmap). This is the kind of stacked policy movement that creates real market opportunities rather than pilot projects that never scale.

The Hard Problems That Remain

A directive from the Prime Minister’s Office does not by itself create a cashless economy. Several structural challenges will determine whether the December 2026 target is achievable:

Internet infrastructure. Pakistan’s internet reliability has been a recurring problem in 2026, with submarine cable maintenance causing slowdowns and periodic restrictions on bandwidth. The PM’s own directive acknowledges this by calling for offline payment solutions. USSD-based payment systems — which work on basic feature phones without internet — have been discussed for years in Pakistan but have not achieved the scale seen in markets like Kenya, where M-Pesa’s USSD rails serve tens of millions of users.

Financial inclusion gap. According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics’ Household Integrated Economic Survey 2024-25, only 50 percent of people aged 10 and above owned a mobile phone. A GSMA report published in August 2025 estimated that mobile broadband covered 81 percent of the population, but only 29 percent used mobile internet. You cannot digitise payments for people who do not have devices or connectivity.

Cash dominance. Pakistan’s economy is overwhelmingly cash-based. The informal sector — which accounts for an estimated 30-40 percent of GDP according to various analyst estimates — operates almost entirely in cash. Getting street vendors, small shopkeepers and daily-wage workers onto digital platforms requires not just infrastructure but behavioural change, trust-building and tangible incentives.

Cybersecurity. As digital payment volume grows, so does the attack surface. The PTA reported 326 cyber threat indicators detected through a yearlong dark web monitoring programme, according to Bol News on November 6, 2026. A large-scale shift to digital payments will require corresponding investment in fraud detection, transaction monitoring and consumer protection frameworks.

Interoperability. While Raast connects banks, the broader digital payment ecosystem includes mobile wallets (Easypaisa, JazzCash, NayaPay), telco-based services and emerging fintech platforms. Ensuring seamless interoperability across these systems — so that a payment from any wallet to any bank account works reliably — remains an ongoing technical challenge.

Why This Matters

For Pakistan’s technology community, the digital payments push matters in three ways:

First, it creates demand for payment infrastructure, API integration and fintech products. Companies building payment gateways, QR code solutions, digital wallet services and fraud detection systems will see increased deal flow as government departments, utilities and merchants seek compliance.

Second, it normalizes digital payments for segments of the population that have been hesitant. When a government utility bill arrives with a Raast QR code, even a cash-preferring consumer has a reason to try the digital option. This is the kind of top-down nudge that can shift adoption curves.

Third, it strengthens the case for Pakistan’s broader digital economy ambitions. The Uraan Pakistan plan targets $10 billion in annual IT exports by FY2029, as we tracked in our coverage of Pakistan’s IT exports in Q1 FY2027. A functional digital payment infrastructure is foundational to growing the digital economy — freelance platforms, SaaS products and e-commerce all depend on reliable payment rails. The government’s Digital Nation Pakistan Act and national digital stack, announced at LEAP 2026, similarly depends on a payment layer that works at national scale.

For Product Teams and Founders

For Pakistani fintech founders and product teams, the roadmap creates both opportunity and obligation.

The opportunity is in the gaps the government cannot fill alone. The PM’s directive calls for offline payment systems, media campaigns and consumer-facing technology — all areas where private sector capability exceeds what government departments can build internally. Companies that can deliver QR code payment solutions for small merchants, offline payment mechanisms for underserved areas, or integration services for government departments transitioning to Raast will find a receptive market.

The obligation is to take security and reliability seriously. A high-profile failure — a payment system outage during a government disbursement, a fraud incident affecting BISP beneficiaries, or a data breach at a newly onboarded merchant — could set back public confidence in digital payments by years. The technology community has a stake in making sure the transition works.

For developers, Raast’s API documentation and integration patterns are available through participating banks and the SBP. The open banking draft regulations, once finalised, will add another layer of API access for licensed Third-Party Providers — making it easier for fintech applications to initiate payments without going through a bank’s proprietary interface.

What to Watch Next

  • November 15-16, 2026: Asaan Assignment Account cheques end; Raast-based government payments begin nationwide. Watch for transaction volume data and any operational issues during the transition.
  • November 30, 2026: Deadline for public feedback on the SBP’s draft Open Banking Regulations. The final rules will determine how quickly third-party payment services can enter the market.
  • December 2026: Target for full digitisation of most government payments. This is an aggressive timeline — watch for partial implementation or scope adjustments.
  • Utility bill QR rollout: No specific date has been announced for when Raast QR codes will appear on electricity and gas bills. The implementation will likely depend on coordination between the Ministry of Finance, SBP and utility companies.
  • Offline payment pilot: The directive calls for a payment system that works without internet, but no technology or timeline has been specified. Watch for USSD or SMS-based payment pilots.

Conclusion

Pakistan’s push for 100% digital payments is the most coordinated government-level effort to date to move the country toward a cashless economy. The building blocks — Raast, open banking regulations, BISP’s digital wallet success — are real. The barriers — internet infrastructure, financial inclusion, cash dominance and cybersecurity — are equally real. The next eight weeks will be telling, as government cheque payments end and the Raast system faces its first real national-scale test.

For technology builders, educators and founders working in Pakistan, this is not a spectator event. The digital payment infrastructure being built today will shape how products are sold, how services are delivered and how the next generation of Pakistanis interacts with money. Getting involved now — whether by integrating Raast into a product, building on open banking APIs, or simply understanding the regulatory landscape — is more useful than waiting for the roadmap to be fully implemented.

What are you building on top of Pakistan’s digital payment infrastructure? Let me know — I am interested in hearing from founders and developers navigating this transition.

Sources

Shamyl Bin Mansoor

Shamyl Bin Mansoor is a technology entrepreneur, product builder and STEAM educator. He is Co-founder and CTO of LearnOBots and works on educational technology, robotics and interactive learning products. Learn more about him.

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