On Monday, Prime Minister Imran Khan unveiled the world’s first instant digital payment system, Raast, which he said would improve the formal economy of the country.
He called the new system a “big step” towards realizing the full potential of Pakistan at the launch ceremony in Islamabad, saying that the cash economy of the country was a “big obstacle” for it to fully take advantage of its population.
“The biggest loss (because of) the cash economy is (to) our tax collection. Pakistan is among the lowest tax collectors in the world,” the premier said. He added that only two million were taxpayers out of a population of 220million.
“We cannot build our infrastructure. We cannot do human development. We cannot educate children or improve hospitals,” the PM stated.a
He also said that the digital payment system would “slowly take people away from the cash economy” to a point where the vast population of the world could be taken advantage of. In addition to the move towards his ‘Digital Pakistan’ vision. According to the premier, the scheme will also lead to the inclusion of individuals from the weaker segment of society.
“Another important aspect of this is that we include people from the weaker segment of society too in our development,” he added.
