Pakistan launches first instant payment system ‘Raast’ Top Story January 12, 2021 ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday launched the country’s first instant payment system—Raast—to enable end-to-end digital payments among individuals, businesses and government entities instantaneously. Addressing the ceremony, the Prime Minister termed the launch a major step forward by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) towards “Digital Pakistan”, adding it would help include the low income groups and make them part of the mainstream economy. He was optimist that it would go a long way in fighting poverty, particularly in rural areas. Raast is part of Prime Minister Khan’s “Digital Pakistan” vision to include poor segments of society in formal economy. The faster payment system will be used not only to settle small-value retail payments in real time but will also provide cheap and universal access to all players in the financial industry, including banks and fin-techs.