KARACHI: Governor State Bank Jameel Ahmad said that a milestone has been set for payment in Pakistani rupees between Pakistan and Arab countries.
Now, Pakistani citizens will be able to make online payments in Pakistani currency in partnership with the Pakistani banking channel Rast and Arab Monetary Fund Bona, while the central bank is also working to enable direct payments to China through the online banking channel, on Friday. Announcing his third Financial Inclusion Strategy 2028 in the Annual Governor’s Report for the financial year 2024-25, Governor Jameel Ahmed said that by 2028, he committed to provide banking facilities to 75 percent of the adult population, of which 25 percent would be women.
Currently, 60 percent of Pakistan’s adult population is benefiting from banking services, he said, adding that to facilitate cross-border payments, the State Bank has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Arab Monetary Fund, Bona, in which the Pakistani currency will be the settlement currency. has been recognized as, which is a historical milestone.
He further informed that State Bank has also approved a cross-border partnership between Chinese and Pakistani financial institutions, through which Pakistani e-wallets users will now be able to make their payments in China while in Pakistan, it should be noted that in December 2023. After the success of NFIS 2018-2023, State Bank is now planning to launch the third edition of NFIS 2024-28, with the objective of protecting, facilitating, promoting, and providing better services to digital banking.
