Inflows through the Roshan Digital Account (RDA) clocked in at $182 million in March, a significant jump of over 29% compared to $141 million in February 2024, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Thursday.

Out of the total amount, $17 million has so far been repatriated, while funds to the tune of $135 million have been utilised locally. The net repatriable liability stands at $30 million.

The central bank shared that total number of RDA accounts opened reached 679,792 from 668,701 a month ago at February-end, showing a month-on-month increase of 11,091 accounts.

As per the latest data available on the SBP’s website, the cumulative RDA inflow clocked in at $7.660 billion by the end of the previous month, out of which $1.576 billion has so far been repatriated, while funds to the tune of $4.802 billion have been utilised locally.

Consequently, total net repatriable liability stands at $1.283 billion as of March-end.

Out of the total outstanding liability, an amount of $840 million is with Naya Pakistan Certificates, with $312 million in conventional NPCs and $528 million in Islamic instruments.

Similarly, an amount of $381 million is ‘balances in accounts’, the SBP data showed.

Meanwhile, Roshan Equity Investments declined monthly and stood at a meagre $31 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.