Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb met a Visa Inc. delegation led by Tareq Muhmood, Regional President for Central Europe, Middle East & Africa (CEMEA), to discuss Pakistan’s digital payments landscape, financial inclusion agenda, and broader economic reform trajectory.

Welcoming the delegation, the Minister acknowledged Visa’s continued engagement with Pakistan’s financial ecosystem and briefed the team on improving macroeconomic indicators, ongoing stabilization measures, and the government’s priorities for achieving sustainable and inclusive growth.

He highlighted reforms carried out under the IMF-supported economic programme, noting greater international confidence supported by recent external assessments from credit rating agencies and multilateral partners. The minister also outlined progress in areas including taxation, energy, state-owned enterprises, public debt management, and privatization, stressing steps taken to fast-track divestment of select public sector entities.

Discussions also focused on the acceleration of Pakistan’s digital transformation, including the expansion of digital payments infrastructure, government digitization, and modernization of payment systems. Aurangzeb emphasized that digitalization is being championed at the highest level by the Prime Minister to ensure coherent cross-government implementation.

He referenced ongoing initiatives such as the creation of the Pakistan Digital Authority, upgrades to payment rails via the State Bank of Pakistan, and efforts to digitize government receipts and expenditures to boost transparency, efficiency, and service delivery.

The Visa delegation shared insights from its engagements with banks, fintechs, and market stakeholders, noting improved confidence due to macroeconomic stabilization and rising interest in digital payments, financial inclusion, and innovation-driven financial services.

Topics covered during the meeting included cash displacement, fraud and cybersecurity controls, support for small and nano-businesses, QR and tap-to-phone solutions, and expansion of acceptance infrastructure into Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. Visa also underscored the importance of competition and optionality across payment channels to foster innovation and mitigate risk.

Emerging areas such as e-commerce, inbound tourism spending, remittances, and the potential application of technologies like blockchain and digital assets in regulated environments were also discussed. The Finance Minister noted that Pakistan is evaluating such innovations carefully, balancing innovation, regulatory oversight, and financial stability, with possible use cases in public debt, remittances, and government payments.

Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to ongoing collaboration, including technical engagement and knowledge-sharing around government payments digitization and financial inclusion. The meeting concluded with an understanding to maintain close coordination between Visa, the Finance Ministry, and relevant regulators to support Pakistan’s digital payments ecosystem and broader reform and growth agenda.