ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday invited overseas nationals to invest in numerous mega projects in Pakistan by opening accounts in commercial banks in their country and participate in the nation-building process through their funds.
“We need to boost our economic activity to create jobs and retire loans,” he said while addressing the ceremony to launch Roshan Digital Account (RDA), a government initiative allowing expatriates to remotely open bank accounts in their country without visiting a bank branch, embassy or consulate.
The prime minister said that the initiative would provide the overseas Pakistanis an opportunity to make “safe investments” in real estate, construction industry and numerous other mega projects including the Ravi City and Mohmand Dam.
As many as nine million Pakistanis live and work abroad and send about $23 billion in remittances every year to support their families. The government expects to shore up its dwindling foreign exchange reserves and boost the country’s fragile economy by allowing overseas nationals to funnel their funds through the Roshan Digital Account.
“The customer can choose either foreign currency or rupee denominated account, or both. Funds in these accounts will be fully repatriable without the need for any regulatory approval,” said a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office earlier in the day.
Talking about economic hardships, Khan said that the country faced a historic $40 billion trade deficit and $20 billion current account deficit when his government came in August 2018.
“The shortage of dollars in the market puts pressure on the rupee and results in inflation,” he said, adding that wealth creation was required in the country to revive the economy.
The RDA will provide access to all conventional account services, including fund transfers, online bill payments, e-commerce and other payments in Pakistan. It will also allow users to invest in fixed deposit products offered by banks, put money into Pakistan’s stock market and will be backed by virtual debit cards for both domestic and overseas use.
The prime minister also termed overseas Pakistanis a “resource pool” which he said was never fully exploited to strengthen the country.
Haroon Sharif, a senior economist and former chairman of the Board of Investment, said the initiative would help overseas nationals open cross-border bank accounts easily which otherwise would have been a “cumbersome process” due to numerous procedural hurdles.
“Initially, the flow of funds from expats may be small. Once their confidence improves in this digital initiative, they will use it for investments and bigger amount of remittances,” he told Arab News.
Sharif said that the whole world was moving toward digital economy and e-commerce, adding “this is a step in the right direction to boost our economy.”
