The Pakistan Digital Authority (PDA) participated in Pakistan Fintech Forum IV, where policymakers, regulators and fintech leaders discussed the future of Pakistan’s digital financial ecosystem under the theme “Building the Financial Future: Scale, Trust and Inclusion.” PDA Chairperson Dr. Sohail Munir participated in the Leadership Dialogue session titled “Digital Public Infrastructure: Beyond Access, Towards Economic Impact,” which examined how digital infrastructure can contribute to entrepreneurship, financial inclusion, formalisation and sustainable economic growth.
During the session, Dr. Sohail Munir presented the case for Pakistan’s emerging data economy and outlined three key foundations required to support it. He noted that Pakistan has already established two of these foundations through national identity infrastructure provided by NADRA and digital payments enabled by Raast. According to the PDA, the third foundation is WASL, the national data exchange layer, which is intended to connect these systems and enable secure data exchange and interoperability.
The discussion highlighted that access to digital infrastructure is only the first stage of financial and economic inclusion. While digital identity establishes an individual’s identity and payment infrastructure enables money to move, data governance, interoperability and secure exchange can help convert these capabilities into wider economic activity. The proposed data exchange layer is therefore positioned as an important component of Pakistan’s digital public infrastructure.
Dr. Sohail also pointed to the potential economic contribution of data, noting that data contributes around 2% of GDP in jurisdictions that have developed such ecosystems successfully. He suggested that a similar data-driven infrastructure could represent a significant opportunity for Pakistan by enabling greater economic activity and creating new possibilities for businesses and digital services.
The participation of PDA at the forum highlights the increasing connection between digital public infrastructure and the financial technology ecosystem. As Pakistan develops identity, payments and data-exchange infrastructure, greater interoperability and secure data governance could provide the foundation for broader digital economic activity beyond basic access to financial and digital services.
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