Cumulative inflow under RDA hits $6.62bn: SBP

Inflow through Roshan Digital Account (RDA) has crossed $6.6-billion by August-end, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Tuesday.

The central bank shared that total number of RDA accounts opened reached 606,865 from 596,268 a month ago at July-end.

As per latest data available on SBP’s website, the cumulative RDA inflow clocked in at $6.617 billion by the end of the previous month, out of which $1.484 billion has so far been repatriated, while funds to the tune of $4.006 billion have been utilised locally.

This means total net repatriable liability stands at $1.127 billion as of August-end.

Out of the total outstanding liability, an amount of $715 million is with Naya Pakistan Certificates, with $320 million in conventional NPCs and $395 million in Islamic instruments.

Similarly, an amount of $375 million is ‘balances in accounts’, according to the SBP.

On the other hand, Roshan Equity Investments declined further and stood at a meagre $18 million.

Background

RDA is a significant source of foreign exchange inflows for cash-starved Pakistan.

The initiative was launched in September 2020 by the SBP and offers up to 8% profit on US dollar investments.

Earlier, the central bank in its bid to attract further remittance inflows announced the launch of Diamond Category in the Sohni Dharti Remittance Programme.

Effective from September 22, 2023, a new ‘Diamond’ category has been added in the Sohni Dharti Remittance Programme (SDRP). The new category is in addition to existing three categories namely, ‘Green’, ‘Gold’ and ‘Platinum’.

According to SBP, the then Finance Minister Ishaq Dar in his budget speech for FY24 had announced the addition of Diamond category with enhanced reward points and provision of other benefits like arms licence of non-prohibited bore, preferential treatment at Pakistan embassies/airports and gratis passport to the Diamond Category holders.