Roshan Digital Account: cumulative inflow reaches $6.75bn, says SBP

Inflow through Roshan Digital Account (RDA) crossed $6.75 billion at September-end, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Monday.

The central bank shared that total number of RDA accounts opened reached 617,730 from 606,865 a month ago at August-end.

As per the latest data available on SBP’s website, the cumulative RDA inflow clocked in at $6.756 billion by the end of the previous month, out of which $1.497 billion has so far been repatriated, while funds to the tune of $4.12 billion have been utilised locally.

Consequently, total net repatriable liability stands at $1.139 billion as of September-end.

Out of the total outstanding liability, an amount of $668 million is with Naya Pakistan Certificates, with $266 million in conventional NPCs and $402 million in Islamic instruments.

Similarly, an amount of $429 million is ‘balances in accounts’, the SBP showed.

Meanwhile, Roshan Equity Investments improved on a monthly basis and stood at a meagre $20 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 Program.

Effective from September 22, 2023, a new ‘Diamond’ category has been added in the Sohni Dharti Remittance Program (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 a Diamond category with enhanced reward points and provision of other benefits such as arms licence of non-prohibited bore, preferential treatment at Pakistan embassies/airports and gratis passport to Diamond Category holders.