Photo: Executioner / Wikimedia Commons ↗, CC BY-SA 3.0 ↗

KARACHI, September 2, 2026 — The State Bank of Pakistan has capped what card payments may cost at petrol pumps until January 31, 2027 and told banks and payment firms to get Raast QR acceptance working at fuel stations. PSP&OD Circular Letter No. 01 of 2026, dated August 03, 2026, took effect immediately. Raast, the instant payment system operated by Raast Payments Pakistan, a wholly-owned SBP subsidiary, is free for end customers under a 2022 circular.

The letter is addressed to banks, microfinance banks, EMIs (electronic money institutions), payment system operators and payment service providers, which it groups as regulated entities, and is signed by Qazi Shoaib Ahmad, Director. Its arrangements “shall remain applicable until 31st January 2027 for all payment cards issued in Pakistan”, and para 4 states that they are “effective with immediate effect” while all other instructions on the subject stand. At the pump that reaches three groups: the station as merchant, its acquiring bank and the card issuer, and the motorist paying by card or QR code.

Card fee caps at fuel stations

SBP’s published page for the circular does not show the fee table. The News and Dawn, both on August 4, 2026, quote it: the merchant discount rate (MDR) on card-present fuel purchases is “capped at Rs1.00 per litre” and the interchange reimbursement fee (IRF) is “capped at Rs0.20 per litre”. Both figures rest on those attributed reports of the circular’s table, not on a table readable on sbp.org.pk. The Rs0.20 cap is the card interchange fee, not a charge on Raast QR payments.

What changed

  • Before: Not stated in the circular. It refers back to PSP&OD Circular Letter No. 01 of 2023 of March 17, 2023, whose fee table is not readable on SBP’s page either, so we cannot confirm what the earlier caps were. Mettis Global calls the August move an extension of existing caps; the Express Tribune calls them new limits built on the 2023 instructions. Unresolved.
  • Now: MDR capped at Rs1.00 per litre and IRF at Rs0.20 per litre on card-present fuel and related purchases, for all cards issued in Pakistan, until January 31, 2027.
  • Effective: Immediately, from August 03, 2026.

What this means for you Nothing in the circular sets a price for the motorist; it caps fees inside the card acceptance chain. At the pump, expect the card machine to keep working as before and, at stations that have enabled it, a Raast QR option that is free for you to use. For how instant transfers and their limits work, see transfers.

Raast QR at petrol pumps

Para 3 tells regulated entities to “actively engage with their respective merchants (fuel stations)” so that Raast QR acceptance is enabled for fuel and related products, and says SBP “will revisit these instructions on or around 31st January 2027” in the light of market response to the pricing. Daily Pakistan reported that pumps must implement Raast QR by that date; the text SBP published does not say that. It directs banks and payment firms to engage merchants, and sets no deadline for stations themselves.

One reason stations may agree: Bank Alfalah states on its merchant page that “the MDR is 0% on the Raast scheme”. That is a bank’s own page, not an SBP instruction.