Written by Faisal Shahnawaz in Money & Banking Finance Division reviews digital payment progress, merchant adoption and government transactions ahead of the Prime Minister’s Cashless Initiative review. Minister of State for Finance Bilal Azhar Kayani chaired a high-level meeting at the Finance Division on Wednesday to review preparations for the upcoming review of the Prime Minister’s Cashless Initiative. Senior representatives from the Ministry of Finance, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), NADRA, Capital Development Authority (CDA), Ministry of IT and Telecommunication, and private-sector stakeholders attended the meeting. The minister reviewed progress made on directives issued earlier by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and discussed measures aimed at accelerating Pakistan’s digital financial transformation. New Targets for Cashless Dashboard A major focus of the meeting was assessing progress achieved during the previous year and beginning the process of setting annual performance targets for the national Cashless Dashboard for the current fiscal year. Officials also considered adding new analytical indicators to the dashboard. These indicators are intended to strengthen real-time monitoring, improve data transparency and provide a clearer picture of the country’s transition toward digital payments. The meeting reviewed growth in the number of active digital merchants, overall digital transaction volumes and digital banking users during the previous year. Government…