The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) announced that Raast, the country’s first instant payment system, has successfully processed 892 million transactions totaling Rs. 20 trillion. The central bank highlighted that the most recent trillion was achieved in just 16 days, underscoring SBP’s commitment to facilitating easy and accessible digital payments for all.

Raast is designed to enable real-time payments among individuals, businesses, and other entities. The system’s first use case, bulk payments, was launched in January 2021 with the disbursement of dividends via the Central Depository Corporation (CDC).

The second use case, person-to-person (P2P) payments, went live in February 2022. This feature allows for free, instant transfers between individuals using a mobile number as their Raast ID or through an International Bank Account Number (IBAN).