Roshan Digital Account inflows have surged to over $4.95 billion through 452,821 accounts of overseas Pakistanis from 175 countries in less than two years, said Deputy Governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Dr. Murtaza Syed.
Speaking at the webinar titled, “Roshan Digital Account: World Class Banking, The Islamic Way,” Deputy Governor SBP revealed that over half of Roshan Digital Accounts (RDAs) have been opened in Islamic banks, and more than half of the inflows are received by Islamic banks, and half of the investments are made in Islamic Naya Pakistan Certificates.
“We recognized that overseas Pakistanis’ opt for the Islamic version of Roshan Digital Accounts and hoped that out of the 9 million expatriate Pakistanis, more will take advantage of RDA and its various features in the future,” Deputy Governor SBP said.
Informing the audience of the success of RDA, he said that the inflows of RDA have been overwhelming and are higher than the amount received by the country under the program of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and friendly states.
Deputy Governor SBP informed that the central bank is working to introduce Roshan Business Account in near future to provide enhanced facilities to overseas Pakistanis for conducting business and making investments in Pakistan. The banking regulator is also working on products such as a pension, insurance, and Takaful under RDA.
“We recognized that overseas Pakistanis prefer the Islamic version of Roshan Digital Accounts. The Islamic RDA can be used for investment in Naya Pakistan Certificate and even for purchasing houses and cars. Furthermore, overseas Pakistanis can also do charity through RDA, and now, they can even donate to PM Flood Relief Fund,” Dr. Murtaza said.
Overseas Pakistanis are very concerned about Pakistan’s economy, however, the worst is behind us, and we will see stability in the economy, Deputy Governor added.
“Pakistan is currently facing two challenges; high inflation due to the global rise in prices and the ballooning current account deficit due to the higher import bill. The IMF program for Pakistan is back on track, while additional funding will be available from World Bank, Asian Development Bank, etc. Moreover, Pakistan’s friendly countries have committed nearly $4 billion program for Pakistan, which will support the economy further,” Dr. Murtaza remarked.
Addressing the concerns of expatriate Pakistanis, he further added that our forex reserves will improve in the next 8-10 months as the reserves are expected to be doubled from the current level of $8 billion to $16 billion, which will reduce the concerns of overseas Pakistanis.
In the last few weeks of August, the Pakistani Rupee regained its value to be among the best-performing currencies across the world. It recovered nearly 10 percent of its value. Similarly, our stock market rebounded during the same period, Dr. Murtaza said.
We have curtailed our import bill through corrective measures, which will contain the deficit position of the current account. The economy has been deliberately slowed down to conserve foreign exchange, which is the major issue for the country on the macroeconomic front, he added
Other speakers at the webinar included CEO and President HBL Muhammad Aurangzeb, CEO and President Meezan Bank Irfan Siddiqui, CEO and President Faysal Bank Yousaf Hussain, CEO and President Dubai Islamic Bank Junaid Ahmed, Dr Adeel Malik, Associate Professor, Department of International Development, University of Oxford, Syed Irfan Ali, Managing Director Deposit Protection Corporation Pakistan, Dr Imran Ashraf Usmani, Sharia Scholar, Allama Shabbir Hassan Lakhani Maisami, Sharia Scholar, and Sajjed Aslam, Regional Lead Public Affairs, Asia Pacific, ACCA.
