The Digital Economy Enhancement Project (DEEP), a major initiative financed by the World Bank, is struggling to deliver its core business promises. Despite a $78 million budget aimed at streamlining government-to-business (G2B) services, the project has recorded zero transactions on the Pakistan Business Portal.
Approved in March 2024, the project was designed to digitise regulatory approvals and ease the cost of doing business. However, nearly two years later, financial disbursement remains sluggish. Only $5.32 million has been released, totalling just 7.39% of the financing.
Business Portal Remains Dormant
The project’s second component focused on digitising Registration, Licences, Certificates, and Other (RLCO) approvals. Official World Bank documents confirm that institutional frameworks were notified, yet core business-facing components remain non-operational.
Consequently, no RLCO transactions have been processed to date. Furthermore, no G2B services have successfully moved online. The project initially targeted processing 4,000 annual transactions through the portal by November 2027, but current progress is nonexistent.
Additionally, the project aimed to reduce the processing time for broadband right-of-way permits from 120 days to 65 days. Documents reveal that no progress has been recorded on this front either.
Digital Economy Enhancement Project: Digital ID & Data Gains
While the business side lags, the project has hit milestones in citizen services. Following the enactment of the Digital Nation Pakistan Act, 2025, the country saw a soft launch of its national digital identity system in August 2025.
From August to December 2025, authorities issued 849,177 digital IDs. The Digital Vault, accessible via the PakID app, now supports seven verifiable credentials. These include:
- Family registration certificates
- Vehicle registration documents
- Vaccination certificates
- Dematerialised national ID cards
Moreover, the National Data Exchange Layer (NDXL) has processed 1.2 million transactions. As of January 2026, seven entities have integrated into this platform, with federal regulations approved to govern the data exchange.
Risks & Future Outlook
The project is scheduled to close on July 31, 2028. Currently, the World Bank rates progress toward the development objective as “Moderately Satisfactory”. While the overall risk rating has improved from “Substantial” to “Moderate”, macroeconomic risk continues to be assessed as “High”.
Broader enabling reforms are still a work in progress. Specifically, the government has yet to complete a whole-of-government enterprise architecture, a comprehensive cybersecurity roadmap, or a data governance framework.
