KARACHI (Kashmir English): The government has announced to provide digital wallets to the beneficiaries of the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) this year.
Minister of State for Finance Bilal Azhar Kayani, while addressing the launch ceremony of ZWallet, said that the government, government agencies, and the private sector are taking steps together to promote digital payments in the country, and digital wallets will be provided to all beneficiaries of BISP.
Bilal Azhar Kayani said that Rast has played an important role in promoting the digital payment system, and the government is taking steps to make this system more convenient, secure, and people-friendly.
According to the Minister of State, the number of merchants using the digital payment facility has crossed 2 million, while the number of digital banking users has reached 137 million.
He said that the government has also provided a subsidy on the merchant discount rate to promote payments through QR codes in the country. Similarly, there has been significant progress in the process of digitizing government payments.
According to Bilal Azhar Kayani, the rate of digital payments in government institutions has increased from 9 percent to 76 percent, while in self-accounting institutions this rate has increased from 5 percent to 75 percent.
The Minister of State further said that payments are already being made digitally to more than one crore BISP beneficiaries; the new digital wallets can be used like a normal bank account.
Through these wallets, beneficiaries will not only be able to receive their relief money but will also be able to pay utility bills, transfer money, and benefit from other financial facilities.
