Overseas Pakistanis’ potential to be tapped for economic growth: PM

ISLAMABAD, Feb 18 (APP):Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday said the government was committed to facilitate the overseas Pakistanis so as to tap their immense potential and divert their financial contribution towards economic growth.
Addressing an event organized by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) here to mark foreign remittances crossing $500 million through Roshan Digital Accounts, the prime minister said Pakistan was gaining economic stability as the government had taken effective steps in right direction.
In last five months, the overseas Pakistanis from 97 countries have opened over 80,000 Roshan Digital Accounts and sent $500 million to the country.
The ceremony held at the PM House was attended by Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, PM’s Adviser on Institutional Reforms Dr Ishrat Hussain and Commerce Advisor Abdul Razak Dawood, along with brand ambassadors of banks, including squash legend Jahangir Khan, and former cricketers Rameez Raja and Waqar Younis.
Imran Khan termed around nine million overseas Pakistanis the ‘biggest asset of the country’ and said the strategy involving the banking sector had yielded successful results in increased foreign remittances.
He asked the SBP to maintain a constant touch with the Pakistani community abroad and set up a round-the-clock Facilitation Cell to guide them about account opening and related queries.
He stressed a more focused and innovative advertisement campaign on the Roshan Digital Accounts to be run on electronic media across the world.

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The prime minister appreciated the role of banking sector in encouraging the account opening by overseas Pakistanis, saying the money inflow would play a significant role in strengthing the national economy.
Besides Roshan Digital Accounts, he asked the banks to also focus on two more sectors, namely Naya Pakistan Housing project for construction of low-cost residences, and the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to uplift less-privileged segment of the society.
Both of the areas were important in bringing improvement in the lives of common men, he added.
The prime minister said the country’s all economic indicators were witnessing positive trends despite the situation of coronavirus pandemic.
He mentioned that the volume of Pakistan’s exports crossed its competitors in the Sub-continent, including India and Bangladesh.
The textile industry boomed and the power looms in Faisalabad and Gujranwala faced shortage of workers due to the record number of orders received from international market, he added.
The prime minister awarded the banks for their best performance towards Roshan Digital Accounts, including UBL (the highest number of accounts opened), Meezan Bank (the highest amount received in the Roshan Digital Accounts and also for the highest amount received for Islamic Naya Pakistan Certificates), HBL (the highest amount received in conventional Naya Pakistan certificates) and Bank Alfalah (appreciation of marketing efforts).
SBP Governor Dr Reza Baqir said the overseas Pakistanis could open their accounts with Pakistani banks right from their computers at homes and without going to embassies.
He said the deposited money was directly made repatriable to the bank-account holder, which earlier was not possible without the permission of the State Bank of Pakistan.
He announced that on desire of overseas Pakistanis to reduce transfer fee on transactions, only $5-9 would be charged, no matter how big the amount would be.
He appreciated the participating banks for their continuous efforts to reach out to the potential customers and improve the quality of their services.
He said the significant milestone of $500 million in remittances through the RDAs in just five months was a testament to the fact that providing innovative solutions in partnership with the private sector held great promise for strengthening the country’s economy and financial system.

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Governor Baqir unveiled three major new policy steps that had been taken to improve the RDAs. Firstly, the tax regime around RDAs had been streamlined to allow the tax paid at source on profits on investments in NPCs, shares, mutual funds, and property to be full and final and thus overseas Pakistanis would not be required to file any tax return. Secondly, he said, with the help of some correspondent banks, the cost of transferring funds internationally to and from RDAs had been reduced considerably to between $5 and $9 for most transactions. Thirdly, in response to demand from the overseas Pakistanis in Europe and the United Kingdom, the government had now introduced NPCs in Euro and British Pound, in addition to the existing US and Rupee-denominated certificates. He hoped that the changes would attract even more overseas Pakistanis to open an RDA and vowed to continue to innovate to meet their needs.
The overseas Pakistanis including Hamid (United States), Mehdi Raza (United Kingdom), Mansoor Khan (Saudi Arabia), Syeda Paikar Zahra (Oman) and Noor ur Rehman Abid (Bahrain) via video-conference lauded the prime minister’s initiative of Roshan Digital Accounts particularly for its high interest rate and user-friendly process. They also suggested proposals to include local currency conversion and ensure information privacy.

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