Digital economy and imaginary risks

The Coordinator to Federal Tax Ombudsman Meher Kashif Younis has vowed to fully equip Pakistan with a digital economy, which is now the need of the hour to meet the ever-increasing emerging global challenges through result-oriented digital connectivity with advanced countries, including China, the US, and the EU. According to him, the United States, China, and the European Union have become three poles in the global digital economy due to their respective comprehensive strengths and sci-tech capabilities in this field. According to him, with regard to the size of the digital economy, the US ranked first with $13.1 trillion followed by China having a volume of $5.2 trillion in reserves, while Germany occupies third space with $2.44 trillion. He said although competition between the global powers will expand in the future, but Pakistan needs to calibrate cautiously without indulging in any global conspiracy and bloc politics.

Pakistan, being a developing economy has a long way to go to achieve the status of a developed nation and this goal can not be accomplished without the digitalization of the economy and enforcement of global standards in our country. Initially, Pakistani policymakers could not comprehend the importance of modern trends and emerging technological innovations in the financial and banking sectors. However, later successive governments had endeavored to digitalize the national economy and several initiatives had been introduced including mobile banking, Raasat Digital Payment, and Emlaak Finances which not only facilitated instant digital payments but also promoted mobile banking and established the online Mutual funds’ Industry and facilitated online trading of bonds remotely from homes.

According to experts, Pakistan lacks expertise in monitoring and regulating the digital economy and the country needs to formulate comprehensive strategies, legislate and implement laws to strictly regulate the digital flow of finances, and formalize its economy that will not only streamline the entire financial system but also be helpful in the collection of taxes. In fact, Pakistan has the utmost talent and potential to emerge as a strong and developed nation but there is a need to adopt a proactive approach to assimilating new technological innovations into our national life instead of a reluctant and purely security-driven approach in all walks of life.