Digitizing finance

This letter refers to the news report ‘Digital transactions hit Rs17 trillion in Q1 FY24’ (December 31, 2023). According to the report, digital transactions in the country are growing by leaps and bounds, with digital payments accounting for 80 per cent of retail transactions in the first quarter of the current financial year. However, digital transactions accounted for only 13 per cent of the value of retail transactions. Therefore, it is imperative that all sorts of retail customers should be encouraged to adopt the digital mode to settle their transactions.

This will help both banks and retail customers save money, and help the state’s ability to raise revenues by tracking and taxing spending. I also recommend the government, for a start, select and declare five key banks as digital banks, whose sole aim would be to offer the entire array of world-class digital banking services. This will be an important step towards the complete digitalization of our financial system, making Pakistan an emerging ‘digital giant’ in the world economy.

Abbas R Siddiqi

Lahore