{"id":106446,"date":"2026-08-18T16:30:46","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T11:30:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.zameen.com\/news\/?p=106446"},"modified":"2026-08-18T17:07:27","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T12:07:27","slug":"minister-highlights-rapid-growth-in-digital-banking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zameen.com\/news\/minister-highlights-rapid-growth-in-digital-banking.html","title":{"rendered":"Minister highlights rapid growth in Pakistan\u2019s digital banking"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Islamabad: Minister of State for Finance Bilal Azhar Kiani has highlighted the rapid expansion of digital banking and payment services in Pakistan, saying the number of digital banking users has reached 137 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Speaking to journalists in Islamabad, Kiani said the government was taking measures to make digital payments easier and more accessible as part of efforts to reduce the country\u2019s reliance on cash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He said the Raast instant payment system had played an important role in expanding digital transactions, while government support for Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) subsidies had encouraged businesses to adopt QR-based payment facilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The minister said digitalisation had also made significant progress across the public sector. Digital payments by major government institutions have increased from 9% to 76%, reflecting a substantial shift towards electronic transactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zameen.com\/news\/fm-highlights-pvaras-role-in-digital-economy-push.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Aurangzeb highlights PVARA\u2019s role in Pakistan\u2019s digital economy push<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to Kiani, more than two million merchants are now using digital payment facilities, indicating growing adoption of cashless transactions among businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He said the government was working with the private sector to expand digital payment infrastructure and create an environment conducive to wider adoption of digital financial services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The expansion of digital payments is expected to improve transaction efficiency, reduce dependence on physical cash and enhance transparency across the economy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Islamabad: Minister of State for Finance Bilal Azhar Kiani has highlighted the rapid expansion of digital banking and payment services in Pakistan, saying the number of digital banking users has reached 137 million. Speaking to journalists in Islamabad, Kiani said the government was taking measures to make digital payments easier and more accessible as part of efforts to reduce the country\u2019s reliance on cash. He said the Raast instant payment system had played an important role in expanding digital transactions, while government support for Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) subsidies had encouraged businesses to adopt QR-based payment facilities. The minister said digitalisation had also made significant progress across the public sector. Digital payments by major government institutions have increased from 9% to 76%, reflecting a substantial shift towards electronic transactions. Read: Aurangzeb highlights PVARA\u2019s role in Pakistan\u2019s digital economy push According to Kiani, more than two million merchants are now using digital payment facilities, indicating growing adoption of cashless transactions among businesses. He said the government was working with the private sector to expand digital payment infrastructure and create an environment conducive to wider adoption of digital financial services. The expansion of digital payments is expected to improve transaction efficiency, reduce&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":106450,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15016],"tags":[72531,63403,62789,75421,17893,65727,74428,60340,62786,75423,75422,12669,64814,32,34475,75121,59130],"persona":[],"class_list":["post-106446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-developments","tag-bilal-azhar-kiani","tag-cashless-economy","tag-digital-banking","tag-digital-financial-services","tag-digital-payments","tag-digital-transactions","tag-electronic-payments","tag-financial-inclusion","tag-fintech","tag-mdr-subsidy","tag-merchant-discount-rate","tag-ministry-of-finance","tag-mobile-banking","tag-pakistan","tag-pakistan-economy","tag-qr-payments","tag-raast","cat-15016-id"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Minister highlights rapid growth in digital banking - Zameen News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Raast instant payment system had played an important role in expanding digital transactions, while government support...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.zameen.com\/news\/minister-highlights-rapid-growth-in-digital-banking.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Minister highlights rapid growth in digital banking - Zameen News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Raast instant payment system had played an important role in expanding digital transactions, while government support...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.zameen.com\/news\/minister-highlights-rapid-growth-in-digital-banking.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pakistan Real Estate News &amp; 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