Roshan Digital Account inflow dips, clocks in at $142mn in Jan

Inflow through the Roshan Digital Account (RDA) clocked in at $142 million in January 2024, down by 11% as compared to $160 million in December 2023, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Tuesday.

Out of the total amount, $12 million has so far been repatriated, while funds to the tune of $114 million have been utilised locally. The net repatriable liability stands at $16 million.

Meanwhile, cumulative inflows crossed $7.33 billion by January-end.

The central bank shared that total number of RDA accounts opened reached 659,806, up from 651,057 at December-end.

As per the latest data available on the SBP’s website, the cumulative RDA inflow clocked in at $7.337 billion by the end of the previous month, out of which $1.55 billion has so far been repatriated, while funds to the tune of $4.556 billion have been utilised locally.

As a result, total net repatriable liability stands at $1.231 billion as of January-end.

Out of the total outstanding liability, an amount of $800 million is with Naya Pakistan Certificates, with $302 million in conventional NPCs and $498 million in Islamic instruments.

Similarly, an amount of $380 million is ‘balances in accounts’, the SBP showed.

Meanwhile, Roshan Equity Investments remained stagnant at a meagre $30 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.

Last year, 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’.

The Diamond category offers 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.