Pakistan participates in the Arabic Payment Platform

• Digital payments hit RS1TR every nine days: SBP Commander
• Remittances to make them faster and safer under the buna.
• The SBP aims at a national -free economy until June 2026.

Islamabad: Pakistan has decided to incorporate the Buna platform of the Arab world’s Buna platform, operated by the Arabic Monetary Fund (AMF), The news reported.

The arrangement will allow cross -border transactions, but allows only inputs from overseas Pakistanis, without forecast for external transport.

Development was revealed during a meeting of the Standing Committee on Finance of the National Assembly, chaired by Syed Naveed Qamar, in an IT park in Islamabad on Thursday.

Pakistan’s State Bank Governor Jameel Ahmed informed the NA Table that transactions under the digital payment system were around the RS1 trillion mark on a base per limit when the Rast started, but now the volume of transactions in the digital payment system is crossing RS1.

Buna is the Arab Regional Payment System, a cross -border platform for multiple coins that belongs to the Arabic Monetary Fund (AMF) that allows financial institutions to send and receive payments to Arabic and international coins throughout the Arab region and beyond.

It started in 2020, supports coins such as Saudi Riyal and Emiti Dirham, with future plans to integrate coins from other countries, such as China, to strengthen regional economic integration and cross -border trade.

Updating the NA table, the SBP governor said the new arrangement would make remittances faster and safer. He added that by 2028, the aim is to provide 75% of Pakistan’s young people with digital financial services, while a cashless economy will be introduced at federal and provincial level until June 2026.

The SBP, he said, has already issued five licenses for digital payments, and digital transactions will not be subject to 0.5% of trade fees.

Finance Minister Bilal Azhar Kayani told the Commission that the government would absorb the costs to encourage digital payments, stressing that Pakistan will become one of the first countries in the region to develop such a digital ecosystem.

Finance Secretary Imdadullah Bosal informed members that salaries, pensions, taxes and utility bills will be gradually shifted to the system without cash.

However, the SBP clarified that in the event of user errors in digital transactions, banks will not compensate, and losses due to system fraud or errors will be covered by the respective service providers if the complaint was filed within two hours of any fraud.

Deputy Governor SBP Saleem Ullah, while informing the NA team, said there are now 95 million active mobile users, 226 million bank accounts (96 million unique), 19,000 bank branches and 20,000 ATMs, and 850,000 ATMs are already 850,000.

He added that $ channels will allow transactions even without internet access and consumers will not be charged for cash without cash. During the meeting, Naveed Qamar raised concerns about the effectiveness of the digital ecosystem, as “50% of Pakistan’s economy is without documents” and emphasized the need to support offline transactions.

Hina Rabbani Khar raised the issue of the latest internet services and called for the digital and economy to be promoted without cash with serious internet disorders.

The Commission also examined the Corporate Social Responsibility Bill (CSR). The SECP president informed that in 2024, 315 of the 447 companies carried out CSR activities, spending 22 billion Rs, while 199 companies did not share details and 100 did not spend anything.

He said CSR is responsible, although it is not yet mandatory, but the penalty of Rs 1 billion has been raised for non -discovery. Members proposed to compulsory CSR expenses and formed a subcommittee for further discussion.

Meanwhile, FBB Rashid Langrial President said that the EKA is mainly due to tax credit, as charity spending costs are exempt from taxation. The Commission also expressed dissatisfaction with the National Electric Vehicle Policy 2025-30 and called on officials from the Ministry of Industries and Production for detailed information at the next meeting.

In another development, Pakistan is willing to repay $ 500 million for the maturity of a Eurobond by September 30, 2025, coinciding with the visit of the IMF review of the IMF to Islamabad for the second review of the EFF Extended Fund. Pakistan and the IMF are scheduled to revise a review from September 25th to the first week of October under the EFF $ 7 billion agreement.

“We have made arrangements to repay $ 500 million Eurobond by September 30, and this repayment will not accelerate foreign exchange stocks,” said Jameel Ahmed, governor of the Pakistani State Bank, during a short conversation with a journalist.

Senior official sources have said that the commander’s assurances without intensity in foreign stocks suggests that Islamabad expects either foreign inflows or that the central bank will continue to buy dollars from the market to secure timely repayments.

Out of $ 26 billion in external debt repayments due to 2025-26, $ 3.5 billion have already been paid. Of the other repayments, $ 9 billion consist of deposits from friendly countries, which are expected to be transferred in due time.

Given the increased debt repayment liabilities in 2025-26, Pakistan has decided to reintegrate the international capital market with the issue of international bonds, including Panda bonds on the Chinese market.

The launch of a Eurobond or Sukuk bond seems unlikely, as it depends on the demand for the international market and further improvements in Pakistan’s credit ratings by at least one notch of three trusted organizations.

The Panda bond is expected to start until December 2025, with the first transaction predicting it ranging from $ 200- $ 250 million. Two major Eurobond repayments are due to 2025. The first, worth $ 500 million, matures in September 2025.

Issued in 2015 for 10 years at an interest rate of 8.25%. The second, worth $ 1 billion, matures in April 2026. It was issued in April 2021 for five years with 6%, according to a senior employee of the Finance Directorate.

Another debt repayment for international bonds issued in April 2021, worth $ 1 billion, will mature in 2031, at an interest rate of 7.3%. In addition, the government issued an international bond in January 2022 to raise $ 1 billion for seven years, which will mature in 2029.