Inflows through the Roshan Digital Account (RDA) clocked in at $171 million in April, a fall of over 6% compared to $182 million in March 2024, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Tuesday.

Out of the total amount, $11 million has so far been repatriated, while funds to the tune of $123 million have been utilised locally. The net repatriable liability stands at $36 million.

The central bank shared that total number of RDA accounts opened hit 689,650 from 679,792 a month ago at March-end, showing a month-on-month increase of 9,858.

As per the latest data available on the SBP’s website, the cumulative RDA inflow clocked in at $7.831 billion by the end of the previous month, out of which $1.587 billion has so far been repatriated, while funds to the tune of $4.925 billion have been utilised locally.

Consequently, total net repatriable liability stands at $1.319 billion as of April-end.

Out of the total outstanding liability, an amount of $840 million is with Naya Pakistan Certificates, with $317 million in conventional NPCs and $523 million in Islamic instruments.

Similarly, an amount of $418 million is ‘balances in accounts’, the SBP data showed.

Meanwhile, Roshan Equity Investments declined monthly and stood at a meagre $33 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.