After spending two days in Bangkok attending the IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings, I returned with a firm belief that the future of finance is increasingly tied to the state’s ability to deliver.
Debt management, inflation control, fiscal discipline and investment continue to be critical priorities. However, the agenda now also includes tokenisation, agentic AI, digital infrastructure and the potential of artificial intelligence to generate employment. These areas are becoming increasingly interconnected components of the same economic strategy.
I met with World Bank Vice President and Treasurer Jorge Familiar, IFC Regional Vice President Imad Fakhoury, World Bank Vice President for Digital & AI Sangbu Kim, and World Bank Group Controller Zinga Venner. Our discussions covered digital capital markets, investment opportunities, AI-driven regulation and the use of blockchain to strengthen financial transparency.
These discussions build on steps Pakistan has already taken. The country has introduced a statutory framework for virtual assets, established regulatory pathways for applications and permitted licensed providers to access banking services under specific conditions. The next priority is to create an ecosystem that supports business growth, builds investor confidence and enables public participation with meaningful safeguards.
Three key questions deserve attention: How can innovation expand businesses’ access to financing? How can regulators effectively oversee increasingly sophisticated markets? And how can governments track the use of public funds?
On October 8, the IMF released an analysis based on a chapter of its Global Financial Stability Report examining tokenisation. Its position was measured rather than entirely supportive or dismissive: tokenised markets remain limited in size and fragmented, with legal uncertainty, interoperability challenges and settlement issues restricting their development.
Tokenisation uses programmable ledgers to link the issuance, trading, settlement and servicing of financial assets. However, increased transaction speed can also intensify financial stress. The IMF highlights the need for legally enforceable rights, harmonised regulation and secure settlement assets.
Pakistan needs to be part of this discussion. The central issue is not simply whether an asset can be tokenised, but whether investors have legally enforceable claims and whether the system remains reliable when problems arise.
The IMF’s New Economy Forum also examined agentic AI alongside tokenisation. As financial assets become programmable and software systems begin carrying out delegated instructions, important questions emerge about who authorises these actions, establishes their boundaries and accepts responsibility for the outcomes.
Regulatory expertise and oversight must advance in parallel with technological innovation rather than lag behind until markets have expanded significantly. In 2024, the World Bank issued a CHF200 million digital bond that used wholesale central bank digital currency from the Swiss National Bank for settlement while retaining established custody arrangements.
In June 2025, the International Finance Corporation invested $100 million in a digitally native note issued by Isbank in Türkiye. The transaction settled on the same day through Euroclear’s digital infrastructure, with the proceeds intended to support businesses, farmers and entrepreneurs in provinces affected by earthquakes. Although these examples predate the current discussions, they demonstrate why engagement with the World Bank Treasury and IFC is important.
For Pakistan, several practical questions arise. Could a digital bond or sukuk improve settlement efficiency or broaden access for investors? Would the market be willing to purchase such instruments? Could custodians hold them securely? And would the overall costs—including legal and operational expenses—actually be lower?
Moving debt issuance onto digital platforms does not improve a borrower’s creditworthiness by itself. Likewise, reducing processing costs does not automatically lower borrowing expenses. The ultimate goal should be to secure better financing outcomes, with technology playing a supporting role.
My conversation with the World Bank Controller also focused on using blockchain technology to improve financial transparency. The World Bank’s FundsChain platform enables stakeholders to follow the movement of development funds and link transactions to their supporting documentation. In July 2026, the Bank announced that its original platform had grown to cover more than 300 projects in over 90 countries. Ethiopia’s FundsChain Evolution pilot takes this concept further by examining how specific conditions can be incorporated directly into payment processes.
Financial tracking addresses a fundamental question: Where did the money go? Programmable controls raise another: Can a payment be released only after predefined requirements have been satisfied? Governments could consider applying these mechanisms to development expenditure, provided they operate within legal mandates and account for privacy requirements and exceptional circumstances. Blockchain technology does not remove the need for auditors or on-the-ground verification. An unchangeable record can still contain inaccurate information, while proof that a payment occurred does not establish that the promised service was delivered.
A digital audit trail can provide valuable evidence, but it cannot replace an auditor’s final assessment. Nevertheless, there is a strong case for examining ways to improve the connections between authorisation, payments, documentation and oversight.
On October 14, the IMF and World Bank Group introduced the Bangkok Blueprint, developed in collaboration with the Bank of Thailand to tackle cyber-enabled fraud affecting digital financial services.
The framework outlines 12 key considerations organised around five pillars: legal foundations, prevention, enforcement, cooperation and consumer protection. Because financial fraud can spread across institutions and digital platforms, addressing it requires coordinated action.
For Pakistan, progress in financial innovation should not be judged solely by the speed of transactions. We also need to evaluate how quickly institutions can detect scams, exchange information lawfully, take action, and support customers who suffer losses. Faster payments offer little benefit to someone whose savings are transferred to a fraudster more quickly. At PVARA, technological development must go hand in hand with effective supervision, accountable service providers and robust safeguards. Public trust is not merely a positive outcome of good regulation; it is essential for sustainable financial-market growth.
The World Bank’s ‘Small AI: More and Better Jobs’ session explored affordable AI applications designed around local requirements. In its October economic update covering the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Bank estimated that AI could substantially enhance 13–20% of jobs, while fewer than 10% could face a near-term risk of automation. These regional estimates indicate potential opportunities rather than guaranteed productivity improvements for Pakistan.
The report also points to shortcomings in local relevance and the productive use of AI. Urdu represents approximately 0.03% of URLs in the cited Common Crawl dataset, highlighting the importance of local-language context. However, this figure should not be interpreted as representing the entirety of AI training data.
Pakistan should not define its AI strategy simply by announcing the development of the largest model or investing in the greatest quantity of equipment. At PVARA, I aim to explore practical applications of AI in regulatory operations, including retrieving relevant legislation, identifying missing information in applications, assisting supervisory assessments, and securely retaining institutional knowledge. The objective is not to hand public decision-making authority to algorithms, but to equip accountable officials with more effective tools.
Investment in data centres also depends on several essential factors, including dependable electricity, strong connectivity, effective cooling systems, sufficient customer demand and commercial sustainability. The availability of electricity by itself does not make a location an attractive investment destination.
The real objective is not merely to acquire more technology, but to use it to create greater economic value.
Pakistan’s framework for virtual assets, regulatory application channels and sandbox arrangements offer a starting point, but they do not yet demonstrate that successful commercial applications have been achieved. We must assess where these technologies can contribute to credible capital-market products, dependable payment systems, stronger public financial oversight and practical AI applications within institutions. Achieving this will require PVARA to collaborate with the Ministry of Finance, the State Bank, the SECP and other relevant bodies.
Technology cannot take the place of macroeconomic stability, strong institutions or investor confidence. Instead, our goal should be to use it to reinforce all three. This was the central lesson I took away from Bangkok.
A tokenised financial instrument matters when it enables a useful transaction within a trustworthy regulatory framework. AI matters when it helps an institution carry out its responsibilities securely and effectively. International engagement matters when the knowledge, expertise and relationships gained through it translate into meaningful progress.
Pakistan has an opportunity to make capital easier to mobilise, strengthen safeguards against the misuse of public funds and improve the ability of institutions to serve citizens. Countries gain influence when they understand the systems they rely on and develop institutions capable of helping shape those systems. Pakistan has already taken the first steps in that direction.
My ambition is to see Pakistan become a country whose people contribute to designing the future of finance and whose economy offers them strong incentives to build their futures at home.
