KARACHI: Inflows of Roshan Digital Accounts (RDA) maintained an upward momentum and rose to $5.63 billion at the end of January 2023.
Despite the political and economic uncertainty in the country, overseas Pakistanis are investing in RDA, however, the pace of growth is slightly lower than previous months.
According to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), cumulatively, RDA inflows rose by $110 million during January 2023. Since its launch, overall investment in the RDA rose to $5.686 billion at the end of January 2023 compared to $ 5.576 billion in December 2022.
Roshan Digital Account: monthly inflow lowest since Dec 2020, clocks in at $141mn in Nov
Most of the investment was made in Naya Pakistan Certificates. During January 2023, some $28 million were received on account of conventional Naya Pakistan Certificate and overall inflows in this account rose to $1.8 billion. In addition, with $44 million fresh inflows from overseas Pakistanis, overall investment in Islamic Naya Pakistan Certificate surged to $1.769 billion at the end of January 2023. Investment in Stock market stood at $48 million.
Month-on-month basis, RDA inflows decreased by 21 percent as inflows in December 2022 were $140 compared to $110 million in January 2023.
Overseas Pakistanis from 175 countries have so far opened some 524,822 accounts under RDA. Through RDA for the first time in Pakistan’s history, NRPs are being provided an opportunity to remotely open an account in Pakistan through an entirely digital and online process without any need to visit a bank branch.
Recently, on January 23, the federal government has raised the profit rate for RDA account and hopes it will attract more inflows in coming months.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023