The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and Controller General of Accounts Pakistan (CGAP) have decided to digitise the payment system for salaries/payments of government employees.
The payments will be made through Raast.
Raast is an initiative taken by Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan to promote easy tax collection and move the country towards a cashless economy.
According to a press release, SBP and CGAP have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to use Raast for payments. The payroll and pension-roll data will be shared from the CGA system to SBP’s Raast through a highly secure interface, and payments to the beneficiaries’ accounts will be made instantly after validating the beneficiaries’ detail.
To ensure that payments are only credited in the intended beneficiary’s account, the digital payment system will verify the beneficiaries’ details with their banks in real-time before crediting the payment in the beneficiary’s account.
The central bank further added that they are working to make payments of social security nets like Ehaas Programme, Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), and other government programmes through Raast.
Raast is Pakistan’s first digital payment system that will ensure payments instantaneously for individuals, businesses and the government.
The system can also make payments to multiple beneficiaries at a time to cater to high volume government payments like salaries, pension and social security payments.
