“PAKISTAN is one of the most exciting markets to be in,” said Shahebaz Khan, Senior Vice President, Head of Commercial and Money Movement Solutions, CEMEA, Visa. The economy is not highly digitised, but it has the fifth largest Gen Z population in the world, which are more likely to spend digitally than the preceding generations, he explains.

Counterintuitively, the informal small and medium enterprises segment is another strong reason the global payments technology company sees potential for growth in the country. Small businesses are starved for banking services, he explains. While banks may be reluctant to lend, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) can access debit cards. On one hand, it allows them to track petty cash and manage working capital requirements. On the other hand, it builds a digital footprint of cash flows that allows them access to future financing lines, especially as the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has introduced incentives to lend to small players, he added.

SMEs contribute 40 per cent to GDP and employ 72pc of the non-agricultural workforce, states ‘Digitising SME B2B Payments — The promise of commercial cards 2025’, a whitepaper by Visa. The report estimates that digitising payments, especially business-to-business........

© Dawn Business