Islamabad, December 18, 2025: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday underscored the pivotal role of Raast, Pakistan’s national instant payment system, in promoting a cashless economy and advancing financial inclusion across the country.
The prime minister emphasised the need to further expedite efforts to encourage businessmen and traders to adopt the Raast platform for their payments. He made these remarks while meeting members of the Raast Board, who called on him at the Prime Minister’s House.
Congratulating the board members on assuming their new responsibilities, Prime Minister Shehbaz expressed confidence that their expertise would help further improve the performance of this important initiative.
During the meeting, the board briefed the prime minister on Raast’s progress, informing him that around three billion transactions amounting to Rs80 trillion have so far been processed through the system. They added that Raast currently has over 48 million consumers, with 53 financial institutions across the country serving as its partners.
The prime minister was also informed that Raast operates as a department of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), and that all but one of its board members have been selected from the private sector based on their extensive relevant experience.
It was further shared that Raast is committed to migrating all business-to-government (B2G) and government-to-business (G2B) payments across the country onto the platform. “Through Raast, every individual has been provided with a safe and reliable digital payment system,” the briefing said.
The meeting was attended by Minister for Finance Muhammad Aurangzeb, Minister for Information Attaullah Tarar, Minister for Economic Affairs Ahad Khan Cheema, Minister for Information Technology Shaza Fatima Khawaja, Minister of State for Finance Bilal Azhar Kayani, Governor State Bank of Pakistan, members of the Raast Board, the CEO of Raast, and other senior officials.
