ISLAMABAD, July 7 (APP): Pakistan High Commissioner to Canada Raza Bashir Tarar Wednesday said the Roshan Digital Account (RDA) initiative provided the Overseas Pakistanis a secure and credible avenue to invest and participate in the economic growth of Pakistan.
The high commissioner was addressing a webinar arranged by HABIBMETRO Bank on the subject of ‘Roshan Digital Accounts: Steering Towards a More Roshan Pakistan’.
He said 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 banking in Pakistan.
Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs MNA 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, said a press release.
Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs Andleeb Abbas credited the success of Roshan Digital Accounts scheme to leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan.
The prime minister took bold decisions 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 added.
She also lauded Dr. Reza Baqir and his team for the success of Roshan Digital Accounts.
Speaking on the occasion, SBP President Dr. Reza Baqir said the RDA initiative had proved as 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 said 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.
