KARACHI
Inflows under Roshan Digital Account (RDA) – a banking facility reserved for non-resident Pakistanis – amounted to $250 million in February, up 12.61 percent from the preceding month.
The inflows remained $222 million in January, the latest data released by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) showed.
Overall, foreign exchange inflows through RDA reached $3.63 billion by February 2022 since its launch in September 2020, according to the SBP data. Out of $3.63 billion inflows, around $2.49 billion (68.6 percent) have been invested in high-return Naya Pakistan Certificates (NPCs). So far, 365,182 accounts have been opened from around 175 counties across different Pakistani banks.
NPCs are dollar, rupee, euro and pound–denominated sovereign instruments available in both conventional and Shariah-compliant forms. The returns are highly lucrative compared with similar bonds offered elsewhere. For example, the dollar-based return on the 12-month instrument is as high as 6.5 percent.
SBP Governor Dr Reza Baqir said last month that RDAs have been “a great success” among overseas Pakistanis, especially those living in Saudi Arabia.
Addressing an interactive session organised by the Embassy of Pakistan in Riyadh, Dr Baqir said Pakistanis based in Saudi Arabia have opened the highest number of RDAs and sent the second-highest amount of deposits out of 175 countries. Overseas Pakistanis can open bank accounts in Pakistan and meet their saving and investment needs through a fully digital process, it said.
