Inflow through the Roshan Digital Account (RDA) clocked in at $224 million in May, a significant jump of nearly 31% compared to $171 million in April 2024, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Friday.

Out of the total amount, $9 million has so far been repatriated, while funds to the tune of $145 million have been utilised locally. The net repatriable liability stands at $71 million.

The central bank shared that the total number of RDA accounts opened reached 702,610 from 689,650 a month ago at April-end, reflecting a month-on-month increase of 12,960 accounts.

As per the latest data available on the SBP’s website, the cumulative RDA inflow clocked in at $8.055 billion by the end of the previous month, out of which $1.596 billion has so far been repatriated, while funds to the tune of $5.070 billion have been utilised locally.

Consequently, total net repatriable liability stands at $1.390 billion as of May-end.

Out of the total outstanding liability, an amount of $920 million is with Naya Pakistan Certificates, with $338 million in conventional NPCs and $582 million in Islamic instruments.

Similarly, an amount of $407 million is ‘balances in accounts’, the SBP data showed.

Meanwhile, Roshan Equity Investments improved on a monthly basis and stood at $37 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.