ISLAMABAD: The Prime Minister has directed to further intensify efforts to promote cashless economy in the country.

In a meeting with the board members of RAAST, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif congratulated those who have assumed new responsibilities and said that he hopes that this institution of national importance will be run in a better manner.

The Prime Minister said that RAAST has a key role in promoting cashless economy and financial inclusion. Efforts should be further intensified to encourage business people across the country to use the RAAST platform.

In the meeting, the Prime Minister was given a detailed briefing on the performance of RAAST by the board members and it was informed that more than 3 billion transactions worth about Rs. 80 trillion have been completed so far since the launch of RAAST. The number of RAAST users has crossed 48 million while 53 financial institutions across the country are part of RAAST.

The briefing further stated that Rast is an institution of the State Bank of Pakistan, but all board members except one member have been selected on the basis of extensive experience from the private sector. The vision of the institution is to migrate all G2B and B2G payments across the country to Rast. Through Rast, a secure and reliable digital payment platform has been provided to every individual.

The meeting was attended by Federal Minister for Finance Muhammad Aurangzeb, Minister for Information Atta Tarar, Minister for Economic Affairs Ahad Khan Cheema, Minister for Information Technology Shaza Fatima Khawaja, Minister of State for Finance Bilal Azhar Kayani, Governor State Bank, Rast board members, CEO and senior government officials.