Digitisation to help achieve GDP target: Governor Sindh

KARACHI: Sindh Governor Mohammad Zubair on Thursday said Pakistan has done a massive job in deploying digital technology and would go a long way in accelerating economy towards the growth target of 6 percent set for this year and beyond down the road.

"Digitalisation is [bound] to accelerate economic growth," Zubair said addressing the 11th International Mobile Commerce Conference 2018, organised by Total Communications in collaboration with State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), and 1Link.

"The next level of economic (growth) cannot be achieved by ignoring this side (digitalisation of economy)."

Pakistan has successfully deployed 3G/4G mobile internet infrastructure in the last four years. Four cellular companies, operating in the country, are providing these services, which are critical to the digitalisation of economy. Also, work is progress to pave way for the introduction of 5G technology, the fastest mobile internet service so far.

Zubair further said the technology in place was set to assist the people, living even in remote rural areas, play their role in the economic growth of the country.

"Technology is going to reduce the gap between the rich and the poor and narrow down rural-urban divide and that will be the real economic growth," he said.

Moving forward, he urged the public and private sectors to work together for the national cause of digitising the economy.

Half of the country’s population is using mobile phones with around 120 million active SIMs, while one-fourth now owns (50 million) smartphones, which are 3G/4G enabled. There over 70 million people in the vibrant middle-income group, which is the key to the digital economic growth.

Syed Samar Hasnain, executive director development & finance group at SBP, said the central bank made sure that all the required resources, including the financial ones, remained available for mobile commerce and digital economic growth.

“The number of branchless banking accounts has increased by over 21 percent to 33 million in July-September 2017 as against 27 million in the April-June 2017,” Hasnain said.

Syed Irfan Ali, executive director banking policy & regulations group at SBP, said the central bank has targeted to increase number of bank accounts to 100 million by 2020. “The branchless banking would provide the much needed support in achieving the goals under SBP's National Financial Inclusion Strategy 2015,” Ali added.

Nadeem Hussain, founder/coach Planet N Group of Companies, said a large amount of currency remains out of the banking system and fintechs can bring it into the system and help document the economy.

"Printed currency notes worth Rs3 trillion are not in any bank account," Hussain said, adding Ant Financial, which is part of the Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba Group, is going to help revolutionise the digital economy in Pakistan.