KARACHI: President Arif Alvi on Saturday said Pakistan was getting stronger on the basis of steady improvement in its economy and social indicators ought to help expedite rebuilding its contacts with the world.

“Good Brand Pakistan has to be projected as we, after paying a heavy cost, have come out of the polarisation,” he said while emphasising the need to restore the country’s image as a vibrant and moderate society.

Addressing third Financial Crime Summit here, he said: “The country’s impression was tarnished by the enemies and we have to restore it through concerted and collective efforts.”

The event with the theme “Pakistan’s Regtech — Shoulder to Shoulder with the Government’s vision of addressing Terrorist Financing and Financial Crime” was jointly organised by some private sector financial entities and attended by representatives of public sector institutions concerned.

Says fight against financial crime has led to digitisation of financial sector

President Alvi said Pakistan had complied with 24 of the 27 Financial Action Task Force (FATF) conditions, the prerequisite to help the country get out of its grey list, and deplored the propaganda the country had been subjected to in international arena.

He said the scenario had led to opportunities leading to vibrant digitisation of financial sector of the country. He said it had proved a fast way paving for a digitised economy that would help in its documentation.

He said Pakistan with a series of corrective initiatives at macroeconomic level had been able to put the economy in growth mode and that had affected purchasing power of the masses.

Poverty had been taken head-on by the government with a direct impact on the people belonging to low socio-economic strata.

State Bank of Pakistan Governor Dr Reza Baqir said total volume of e-banking in the country had grown by 24 per cent while its total value registered a growth of 22pc during current fiscal year as compared to the corresponding period in 2019. He said one of the challenges of digital financing was terrorism financing and financial crime and the government was taking a series of measures to counter them to pull the country out of FATF grey list.

The session was also addressed by Mohsin Nathani, president and CEO of the Habib Metropolitan Bank, and Kazi Rahat Ali, secretary general of the Presidential Initiative for Artificial Intelligence and Cloud Computing.

Published in Dawn, March 14th, 2021