Pakistan's heavy reliance on cash has become a structural barrier to economic stability. As Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif renews his push for a cashless economy, the distance between ambition and implementation is hard to ignore. Despite years of attempts to document the retail sector, fewer than 700,000 retailers have adopted any form of digital payment so far. This is a sobering figure for a government now targeting two million digitally linked merchants by June next year, especially amid persistent resistance from the trading community.

The economic case for reducing cash use is strong and a shift towards digital payments would bring Pakistan closer to global financial standards at a time when the world is rapidly moving toward automated and traceable payment systems. Indeed, the gover

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