State Bank of Pakistan Outlines Phased Rollout for Wholesale CBDC Pilot

The State Bank of Pakistan has published the clearest account yet of how it intends to bring a central bank digital currency into production, setting out a three-phase programme that begins with wholesale interbank settlement and defers retail issuance until at least the second stage of evaluation.

Under the framework, a cohort of commercial banks will settle interbank obligations against a tokenised claim on the central bank, running in parallel with the existing real-time gross settlement system. The bank has been explicit that the pilot is a technical exercise rather than a commitment to issue.

Officials have pointed to cross-border remittance costs as the clearest near-term case. Pakistan receives one of the largest remittance inflows in South Asia, and settlement friction is a persistent drag on the value reaching households.

Commercial participants have asked for clarity on reserve treatment and on whether tokenised balances would attract the same liquidity requirements as central bank reserves. The bank has indicated that guidance will accompany the second phase.