The government has decided to make Islamabad Pakistan’s first fully cashless city by 31 December 2026. The decision was announced on Friday at a meeting on the “Cashless Islamabad” initiative, chaired by Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry.
From 30 November, no department of the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration or the Capital Development Authority (CDA) will accept cash payments from citizens or applicants. All fees and dues will instead be paid through digital channels. The target is to bring all merchants in Islamabad into the digital payments system by 31 December, and around 26,000 merchants in the capital have already been connected to the network. Digital payment facilities are to be extended across all levels of commercial activity, from street vendors and small retailers to major business centres. CDA Chairman Sohail Ashraf, representatives of the banking sector and other senior officials attended the meeting.
The project has been implemented on the special instructions of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, who had promised the prime minister that Islamabad would become Pakistan’s first cashless city — and, in the minister of state’s words, the world’s first cashless capital.
Sources: The Express Tribune, ‘Islamabad to become Pakistan’s first cashless city by Dec 31’, 13 November 2026 — https://tribune.com.pk/story/2640108/islamabad-to-become-pakistans-first-cashless-city-by-dec-31 ; Profit by Pakistan Today, ‘Islamabad to go fully cashless by December 31’, 13 November 2026 — https://profit.pakistantoday.com.pk/2026/11/13/islamabad-to-become-pakistans-first-cashless-city-by-december-31 ; Business Recorder, ‘Govt decides to make Islamabad a cashless city by Dec 31’, 14 November 2026 — https://www.brecorder.com/news/40448874 ; The Nation, ‘Govt decides to make Islamabad country’s first cashless city’, 14 November 2026 — https://www.nation.com.pk/14-Nov-2026/govt-decides-make-islamabad-country-s-first-cashless-city
Photo: Guilhem Vellut, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
