KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan Governor Dr Reza Baqir said on Friday that so far the country has received over $480 million in Roshan Digital Accounts (RDAs) from overseas Pakistanis.

Addressing as the chief guest at a launch event of HabibMetro Roshan Digital Account, he said accounts under RDA initiative were opened in 97 countries while most of the inflows were investments in Naya Pakis­tan Certificates (NPCs).

“Over $300m has been invested in NPCs,” said the governor, adding that the country is not only attracting investments from Pakistani expatriates, but these RDAs will also become a more consistent, reliable and long-term source of foreign exchange.

Lauding HabibMetro for joining the RDA, the SBP governor hoped that more banks would follow suit and become part of the fast-evolving digital financial ecosystem of the country.

He said together with the government, the SBP is working on initiatives to provide attractive avenues of investment and savings to overseas Pakistanis.

He said RDA provides a full range of banking services and exciting investment opportunities to the Pakistani diaspora including NPCs issued by the government, as well as the stock market and real estate.

The RDAs provide innovative banking solutions to millions of NRPs and resident Pakistanis (RPs) with declared offshore assets, who need a secure and convenient facility to undertake banking payments, fund-transfers and investment activities in Pakistan, remotely, from abroad.

The RDA programme is available for both conventional and Islamic banking customers around the world. NRPs can open the RDA digitally, anytime and from anywhere.

Published in Dawn, February 13th, 2021