PM says government facing resistance in e-governance implementation

Prime Minister Imran Khan has stated that the government is facing resistance in implementation of e-governance but warned that resistance is not going to last long.

Speaking at the launching ceremony of 'Digital Pakistan Vision' here on Thursday, the Prime Minister said that Pakistan has become internationally relevant as in the past it fought wars for others for financial gains. He said now Pakistan is trying to play the role of a mediator or facilitator to bring the Muslim countries on one platform.

H said digitalization is critical for the benefit of people as it would help the government bring about a meaningful change in the life of the common man, adding that from now onwards the government would pay full attention to digital governance as it is important for Pakistan. The Prime Minister said that women can contribute to this sector as well and cash in on employment opportunities.

The Prime Minister also mentioned transfers and postings in Punjab province, stating, "there has been massive reshuffling. We are getting familiar with the governance issues and everyone would see a change."

Earlier, Governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Dr Reza Baqir said that a few months ago everyone was expressing concern about the future of the economy but now things are much better on economic side as exchange market is quite orderly, reserves are $9 billion while liabilities have been reduced. He said the people were expressing doubts that government reforms would face more difficulties and accrue fewer benefits.

The governor SBP said he would like to remind his friends and economists that economic situation is much better as opposed to a few months before and things would improve further. He said that better economic situation was not only acknowledged by the international institutions but it provided space to the SBP to pay more attention to structural issues and digital payments. He further said after the success of economic reforms, the SBP is now focusing on structural areas.

He said that digital payment was launched by the SBP on November 1, 2019 and the SBP is trying to make it easier for every Pakistani to receive payments, make payments and open accounts.

He said that SBP's role is very important and by law it has the mandate of maintaining payments, their regulations and regulation of Electronic Money Institutions (EMI) rest with the SBP. This means that responsibility and accountability go hand in hand and SBP would be responsible for preserving the integrity and if there is any difficulty in payment or if any major EMI company faces financial issue, accountability would be of SBP.

He said that cyber security is a major challenges and SBP is working on it and is very cautiously moving ahead. He said that digital payment system's major benefit to the ordinary man is that he would have a credit history with the company as it would enable it to have access to loans from the banks at lower interest rate after graduating from microfinance.

He said that he would like to give a message to overseas Pakistanis who are considering to return and serve the country that reward is outweighing risks in Pakistan, adding if Pakistani economists in other countries have an interest in the SBP, "we are ready to hire and welcome them."