Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb. Photo courtesy Ministry of Finance
Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb on Sunday reiterated Pakistan’s need to shift to digitization to ensure a fully documented economy, stressing this will boost revenues and curb the country’s economic concerns.
Addressing a session at the ongoing World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Riyadh, he claimed that approximately Rs. 10 trillion in cash was circulating in Pakistan’s market. “We generate Rs. 9.4 trillion in annual revenues, yet half of our economy remains undocumented,” he lamented, noting that other countries had successfully overcome this issue through digital solutions.
“We have national identification, supported by NADRA, and we have real-time payment system called Raast. These are two important pillars with that we can start moving towards documenting the economy through digital solution,” he said, confirming that the government had inked an agreement with McKinsey to facilitate comprehensive digitalization of the economy.
“They are going to come in and help us with end-to-end digitalization of our economy. It is a huge priority for us,” he stressed, noting the government was extending digital solutions to the informal sector to accelerate the process of documentation of the economy.
“Based on the latest figures I have, approximately 700,000 SMEs and around six million farmers are being offered credits through digital solutions. There is an absolute need for scaling up,” he said, adding work was needed to extend these solutions to women and the unbanked population. “The government is providing cash to the poor women of Pakistan. Women say that the male family members take cash from them. Unfortunately, that is a reality,” he said, adding that women preferred to receive cash through digital wallets.
He also reiterated that the incumbent government was working to revive the economy.