*The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) is all set to introduce a world-classpayment system called ‘Rast,’ which will be a huge leap in the digitizationof the country’s financial mechanism.*
The development was announced by the Deputy Governor SBP, Sima Kamil whiletalking to a private media outlet, she said that the central bank fromMonday 11th January, 2021.“From Monday onwards, the central bank willinitiate a new payment system called ‘Rast’, as we believe this a right wayforward for the country,” said Kamil.
Deputy Governor SBP said that despite the availability of 160 millionmobile phones, our digital economic participation is very limited, aspeople rely on cash for payments. She informed that under the new system,the central bank aims to reduce the volume of cash-based transactions, as anumber of social issues arise due to the prevalent system.
Kamil shared that in the first step, instant credit of dividends fromlisted companies to shareholders will be initiated. “In the next phase,that will take a number of months the payment system would digitize thepayments made to government employees in wages and pension, this would befast, free and safe,” she said.
Earlier, Governor SBP Reza Baqir briefed the forum about the significantprogress made since the last stakeholder’s consultative meeting and theimportant steps taken by SBP to facilitate digital payments.
He said that the development of Pakistan’s Instant Payments System projectpowered by SBP in collaboration with its partners has progressedsignificantly and the Prime Minister of Pakistan will soon launch thecompletion of its first phase. This phase will enable instant transfer ofdividend payments directly into the bank accounts of investors by CentralDepository Company (CDC).
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Talking about the scope of ‘Rast’ payment system, Kamil informed that inthe next phase the upcoming payment system would digitize the BISP andEhsaas payments by June. “Some 16 million women would be facilitated withthis system,” she said.
Kamil informed that the upcoming payment system has been implemented inadvanced countries i.e. UK and Australia.
The Deputy Governor SBP informed that after June, ‘Person to Person’payments will begin and by December, a common man could make paymentsthrough QR codes.
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