ISLAMABAD: A delegation of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Parliamentarians on Tuesday called on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, wherein they held consultations on the political situation in the country and developments in the region. The PPP delegation included Senator Sherry Rehman, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Syed Naveed Qamar and Aijaz Jakhrani.
The meeting was also attended by Deputy Prime Minister/ Foreign Minister Senator Ishaq Dar, federal ministers Ahsan Iqbal and Azam Nazeer Tarar, and Adviser to the Prime Minister Rana Sanaullah.
Talking to the delegation, the prime minister described the PPP a key coalition partner of the government and expressed gratitude to the party for supporting the government in important decision-making for the country’s development.
Separately, a meeting with the prime minister was apprised that the number of individuals benefiting from digital banking in the country has exceeded 127 million. The prime minister commended the economic team and State Bank of Pakistan for shifting salaries, pensions and vendor payments by the federal and provincial governments to the ‘Raast’ digital payment system. Shehbaz also chaired a review meeting on the promotion of cashless economy in the country. During the meeting, it was apprised that from a period of July 2025 to January 2026, payments amounting to worth Rs1.6 trillion were made through Raast by the federal and provincial governments.
The prime minister appreciated the Ministry of Finance team for the achievement. The meeting was attended by ministers Muhammad Aurangzeb, Ahad Khan Cheema, Attaullah Tarar, Shaza Fatima Khawaja, Ali Pervaiz Malik, Minister of State Bilal Azhar Kayani, SBP Governor Jameel Ahmad, provincial chief secretaries and other senior officials, PM Office Media Wing said in a press release. The prime minister also appreciated the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) team for provision of financial assistance to 71 percent of eligible beneficiaries so far under the PM’s Ramazan Relief Package. The meeting was further informed that in the last year, 24 percent of beneficiaries had received the amount by the 12th day of Ramazan, whereas this year, due to timely measures taken on the prime minister’s special instructions, the distribution ratio has surpassed 71 percent.
The prime minister directed all government institutions to provide QR codes on all bills to facilitate citizens for making payments. The Ministry of Finance, SBP, BISP, Ministry of Information Technology and other relevant institutions briefed the meeting on measures taken to promote digital payments in the country.
A briefing was also given on the dashboard related to the digital payments ecosystem. The prime minister directed that targets set for the digital payments system be achieved within the stipulated time frame.
