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Pakistan is promoting PayPak as a domestic alternative for local card payments, but the often-quoted $250 million annual outflow is an estimate attributed to a senator—not an audited figure showing how much PayPak could save. The policy debate is real; the size of the avoidable savings, the reach of PayPak acceptance and whether any proposed mandate will take effect remain separate questions.
What is PayPak?
PayPak is Pakistan’s domestic payment card scheme, owned and operated by 1LINK and launched under the auspices of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). Its stated aims include financial inclusion and digitising payments. PayPak cards are issued through banks; the scheme is not itself a bank account or a card that works everywhere simply because it is domestic.
The official PayPak website displayed 16.8 million cards in force on October 5, 2026. That is a live scheme figure for cards, not a count of active users or a measure of how often those cards are used. (PayPak)
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What does the $250 million estimate actually say?
Dawn reported on April 27, 2026, that Senator Salim Mandviwalla cited roughly $250 million in annual payments to Visa and Mastercard at a Senate Standing Committee on Finance meeting. He argued that the payments involve dollar settlements even when the underlying domestic transactions are made in Pakistani rupees. The estimate is attributable to Mandviwalla; the report does not establish it as an independently verified or audited outflow. (Dawn’s report)
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The figure should not be read as a proven annual saving available simply by switching cards to PayPak. The available accounts do not provide the estimate’s methodology or establish what portion could be avoided through PayPak. A separate 2026 figure from the Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI) puts annual foreign-exchange losses at USD 250–350 million; IPRI also gives estimates of 11 million PayPak users and about 90 million Visa/Mastercard card users. These are IPRI’s figures and have not been reconciled with Mandviwalla’s estimate. (IPRI)
Why is Pakistan promoting PayPak?
The policy case is that domestic transactions on a domestic scheme can be processed and settled within Pakistan, reducing reliance on external payment networks for local spending. In December 2025, SBP described a Faysal Bank/Mastercard/PayPak co-badged card: domestic transactions would settle inside Pakistan, while the Mastercard capability would support international and e-commerce payments. (SBP statement, December 2, 2025)
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That distinction matters. A domestic payment scheme may help keep local processing and settlement domestic, but a card’s usefulness also depends on whether people can pay at the merchants and websites they use, and whether it supports cross-border purchases when needed. Promoting domestic settlement and preserving international functionality are related goals, not identical ones.
Why issuance has not translated into the same level of use
SBP reported in December 2025 that PayPak represented over 25% of Pakistan’s 53 million debit cards in circulation, while its usage share was 6%. These are SBP’s 2025 figures, not current 2026 totals. The gap shows why issuing more cards alone does not demonstrate that customers are using them regularly. (SBP statement, December 2, 2025)
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In that statement, Governor Jameel Ahmad identified limited e-commerce and international acceptance, modest marketing and a perception of PayPak as a low-value card among the obstacles. A card that cannot handle a customer’s expected online or overseas payments may be less convenient even if it works for domestic purchases.
Will PayPak work internationally?
PayPak is a domestic scheme, so international use should not be assumed for every PayPak-only card. The documented approach is co-badging: an eligible card carries PayPak for domestic use alongside an international network capability. SBP’s December 2025 statement described the Faysal Bank/Mastercard/PayPak card as supporting international and e-commerce payments, with domestic transactions settling inside Pakistan. In July 2026, Governor Ahmad likewise described co-badged cards as a way to retain international functionality while making PayPak the preferred domestic debit issuance choice. Availability and functionality depend on the specific card issued by a bank. (SBP, December 2025; Associated Press of Pakistan, July 2026)
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Is the government making PayPak mandatory?
Available 2026 reporting describes a proposal by 1LINK for mandatory PayPak cards for certain government-linked accounts and payments. It does not establish that the proposal became an enacted government mandate. SBP Governor Ahmad’s July 2026 position was that PayPak should become the preferred domestic debit issuance choice, with co-badged cards available for international needs; that statement is a policy preference, not evidence that every customer must use PayPak. (Associated Press of Pakistan, July 2026; Pakistan Today, August 2026)
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What policymakers and customers should weigh
The choice is not simply domestic versus foreign. A practical assessment needs to account for the settlement benefits of local transactions alongside day-to-day acceptance and user needs.
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- Domestic settlement and foreign exchange: whether a transaction can settle domestically is relevant, but the headline estimate does not quantify the savings PayPak would deliver.
- Merchant and online acceptance: a domestic card has limited value if customers cannot use it at the local merchants or e-commerce sites they rely on.
- International functionality: PayPak-only and co-badged cards are different propositions for customers who need cross-border payments.
- Choice and convenience: a preferred domestic option may preserve customer choice differently from a mandate tied to particular accounts or payments.
- Adoption costs: incentives or compulsory issuance may carry costs; the cited reports do not quantify them.
SBP’s 2025 issuance-versus-usage figures make acceptance and customer utility central to the policy question: a larger share of cards in circulation does not, by itself, show a comparable shift in transactions.
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