RDA helping expats participate in growing national economy
Pakistan High Commissioner to Canada Raza Bashir Tarar has called the success of Roshan Digital Accounts (RDAs) a ringing endorsement of the policies and vision of Prime Minister Imran, saying the investment of overseas Pakistanis into this scheme speaks volumes for their trust in the government.
He noted that Prime Minister Imran Khan and Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had consistently laid emphasis on allowing seamless opportunities to overseas Pakistanis to access hassle-free lifestyle banking in Pakistan, and the introduction of RDA scheme had provided the overseas Pakistanis a much-needed cushion and a secure and credible avenue to invest and participate in the growth of Pakistan.
The High Commissioner made this comment while addressing a webinar arranged by HABIBMETRO Bank on the subject of 'Roshan Digital Accounts: Steering Towards a More
Roshan Pakistan'.
MNA and Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs Andleeb Abbas, State Bank of Pakistan Governor Dr. Reza Baqir, President and CEO HABIBMETRO Bank, Canada Pakistan Business Council Vice President and former Pakistan Stock Exchange MD Nadeem Naqvi, Arif Habib Corporation Chairman Arif Habib and Pakistan Canadian investor and philanthropist Col (retd) Nazar Hussain also attended the webinar and spoke on various aspects of the RDA scheme.
Speaking on the occasion, SBP President Dr. Reza Baqir said the RDA scheme had proved to be a success for a wide variety of products and services offered through innovative technology under lifestyle banking at attractive rates with ease of repatriation of assets.
He also attributed the success of the scheme to stable foreign exchange reserves which had more than doubled from US$ 7 billon two years ago to over US$ 16 billion now, and the current account deficit that stood at US $ 19 billion two years had become a surplus now, allowing the exchange rate to stabilize and provide greater cushion to overall success of the RDA scheme.
Reza Baqir told the participants over 180,000 accounts had been opened so far by overseas Pakistanis from 171 countries and an amount of US$ 1.56 billion had been invested with US$ 621 million invested in Naya Pakistan, US$429 million in Islamic Naya Pakistan certificates and a healthy US$490 million or 31 % of the entire investments in the account balance, transactions or bill payments for which the government was not required to pay mark-up.
Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs Andleeb Abbas credited the success of Roshan Digital Accounts scheme to the able and dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan and the bold decisions he took during the COVID-19 pandemic to keep the economy and the businesses afloat and tide over the economic difficulties inherited from the past regime.
She also lauded Dr. Reza Baqir and his team for the success of Roshan Digital Accounts.