Prime Minister Imran Khan officially unveiled Raast, the nation’s first instant payment system ever established by the State Bank of Pakistan in partnership with Karandaaz Pakistan, in a launch ceremony.
The instant digital payment system was scheduled to be unveiled today during a ceremony to be viewed over here, according to a tweet by the SBP.
Governor SBP Raza Baqir claimed during his address to the attendees at the ongoing launch ceremony that the name for the first instant payment system of the nation was derived from the term raah-e-raast, or the “right path,” as he believes that the Raast system would provide Pakistanis with a direct, easy, and safe way to conduct digital transactions.
Raast is the first instant payment system in Pakistan that will instantaneously allow end-to-end digital payments between individuals, businesses and government entities.
To settle small-value retail payments in real time, the state-of-the-art faster payment system would be used while at the same time offering cheap and universal access to all financial industry participants, including banks and fintechs.
SBP Deputy Governor Sima Kamil said earlier last week that the central bank intends to reduce the amount of cash-based transactions under the new system as a number of social problems emerge as a result of the current system.
She recommended that immediate credit of dividends from listed companies to shareholders would be initiated in the first stage.
“In the next phase, which will take several months, the payment system will digitize salary and pension payments made to government employees, which will be fast, free and secure,” she added.
The Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) and Ehsaas payments will also be digitised by the new payment system by June.
It is expected that Raast will allow and streamline the following common cases of regular payment use:
- Transfers of domestic P2P accounts
- Payments from merchants
- Wages, insurance and salaries
- Payments from producer and seller
- Payments for dividends
- Payments for Welfare
- Payments on bills and taxes
In order to trigger the growth of the start-up sector in the fintech space, the launch of Raast is also crucial as it lays the groundwork for national online payments and digital transactions for everyday life.
PM Imran Khan expressed his gratitude to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the British High Commission and the World Bank for their sponsorship of the instant payment system and other initiatives after officially launching Raast. He congratulated the SBP on this achievement and underlined the significant step that Raast has taken towards the nation’s digital future.