Daily Times

Pakistan has received $1.25 billion foreign exchange inflows through over 160,000 digital accounts opened by overseas Pakistanis across 170 countries worldwide since the Roshan Digital Account (RDA) scheme was introduced last September.

This was stated during a webinar arranged by Habib Bank Limited in collaboration with the State Bank of Pakistan and Pakistan High Commission in Canada.

It was informed that Roshan Digital Accounts have emerged as a dependable, secure and profitable banking solution and mode of investment for overseas Pakistanis.

Addressing the webinar, Pakistan’s High Commissioner to Canada Raza Bashir Tarar urged the overseas Pakistanis to take full advantage of the incentives offered under Roshan Digital Accounts.

He said that Pakistan pins high hopes on the successful RDA scheme to achieve financial stability that will pave the way for a sustainable long-term economic growth of the country. Earlier, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor Dr Reza Baqir said, “Overseas Pakistanis have made the Roshan Digital Account (RDA) a big success and we will soon introduce more products in the scheme to facilitate around nine million Pakistani diaspora across the world.” The central bank governor paid rich tribute to non-resident Pakistanis for remitting record money through official channels, and said the RDA scheme was launched to acknowledge their contributions to the country and also to award them some investment opportunities through Naya Pakistan Certificates and stock market.

“We have recently added two new products — the Roshan Apni Car scheme and Roshan Samaji Khidmat — to the RDA programme. Some other products, including an investment option in Pakistani real estate market, will soon be introduced,” he said. Dr Baqir said under the Roshan Apni Car scheme, overseas Pakistanis would be one click away from digitally purchasing a car for their families and friends in Pakistan on reduced mark-up and delivery time. Similarly, Roshan Samaji Khidmat offers a simplified mode to non-resident Pakistanis to send donations to Pakistan, including to its flagship Ehsaas socio-welfare project. “We are transforming the financial system of the country to facilitate the common man. The RDA has a huge growth potential in future if we go through the statistics as only 133,000 accounts have opened so far under the scheme in comparison to nine million Pakistani diaspora around the world,” the governor said.