ISLAMABAD: Terming the 220 million population of Pakistan as “the biggest human resource and asset”, Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday underlined the need of bringing it into the formal economy through the use of the latest technology.
The prime minister was addressing the launching ceremony of Raast, a new State Bank of Pakistan-run instant digital payment system aimed at boosting financial inclusion and government revenue.
Merchants, businesses, individuals, fintechs, and government entities will be able to send and receive near real-time payments through the internet, mobile phones and agents.
Government payments, including salaries and pensions, will also be made through Raast, as well as payments for nationwide financial support programmes, such as the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), and the Ehsaas Emergency Cash initiative.
Khan observed that unless the government utilised the technological revolution to bring the population into the loop of the formal economy, this huge asset will become a burden.
Appreciating the efforts of SBP to facilitate people over the banking system, he said the public often hesitated in visiting the banks, stressing that steps at “bottom ups” would bring the commoners into the formal economy by easing their modes of payments and transactions through the opening of accounts via the application.
The prime minister said the performance of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government will be judged in 2023 on the basis of its measures to reduce poverty.
The UNDP report placed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as the only province where the PTI government during its first term (2013-2018) successfully reduced poverty, he added.
The prime minister said due to such achievement, the people in KP voted for his party in the 2018 general elections.
He further opined it would be a great success for his government if it succeeded in lifting the people out of poverty.
The Covid-19 crisis affected the world population alike but the government in Pakistan took measures to save its people from the economic meltdown and inflation, he added.
Khan, whose government has taken steps to automate the collection of taxes on transactions and tightened rules on banking, said shifting away from a cash-based economy and tackling corruption were the chief motivations behind Raast.
“Pakistan collects about the least amount of tax in the world,” he said. “We cannot build infrastructure, we cannot work on human development, or educate children, or improve hospitals.”
The prime minister noted that saving rates and the tax-to-GDP ratio was low in Pakistan when compared with the rest of the world and it could be increased by making technological advances and by fine-tuning the formal economy.
For increasing tax revenue, he said, usage of technology was being ensured by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) as out of 220 million, only 2 million were paying taxes.
Khan said FBR had collected data of those people who were living a luxurious life but not paying any taxes.
Referring to 9 million Pakistan nationals living abroad as valuable assets for the country, the prime minister suggested the establishment of a cell to further facilitate them in sending their remittances home.
He said their remittances had helped in supplementing the country’s foreign reserves.
The prime minister stressed they must make efforts to ensure direct financial support to the lower segments of society through the use of modern technology and cited the rolling out of Ehsaas Ration programme in this regard.
