At a special meeting in Riyadh, the Pakistan Minister of Finance, Muhammad Aurangzeb, stated that the Pakistani government is keen on adopting a digital currency. According to the Finance Minister, some women in the country are suffering, as the men in their household are taking money given to them by the government.
“The government is providing cash to the poor women of Pakistan. Women say that the male family members take cash from them.”
“The women want to get the cash through the digital wallet,” said Muhammad Aurangzeb, Pakistani Finance Minister.
The government disburses funds to poor women across the country, and to curb this challenge, the minister is convinced digital currency and wallets are the only way to secure these disbursements.
Muhammad had earlier expressed his belief in Pakistan’s government’s resolve to strengthen the economy. The country has massively improved its revenue collection strategies and improved its deficit standings, showing a positive growth in economic strength.
Pakistan’s Economy and the IMF
Muhammad Aurangzeb said the country is currently ranking up to Rs9.4 trillion in annual revenues. However, nearly half of the country’s economy still remains undocumented. The undocumented economy, according to the government, has been one of its greatest undoings, as the government is losing a lot more from this economy.
In the World Economic Forum meeting in Riyadh, the IMF managing director said that low-income countries were adversely affected by the COVID-19 Pandemic. Among other low-income countries, Pakistan was mentioned to be facing economic hardships.
The global economy is slowly gaining strength despite losing over 3.3 trillion dollars due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Pakistan’s current considerations for a digital currency will improve its ability to collect revenue and document its largely undocumented citizenship.
International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Pakistan are forging healthy relationships moving forward, as expressed by the minister himself. The State Bank’s reserves grew from $3.4 billion to $8 billion within a year.
As the government adopts digital ways to disburse money into deserving people’s pockets and the demand for digital wallets from these recipients grows, there is a seemingly possible intersection with the central bank’s need to develop a digital currency altogether.
Sourced From WENews
