Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday thanked the Overseas Pakistanis for sending $57 million in a day that helped the Roshan Digital Accounts (RDA) cross $4.5 billion in total deposits.
According to a tweet by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), 21 June marked “another historic day in Roshan Digital Account, with $57 million in deposit inflows, highest ever daily figure.” With this development, the total amount deposited in the RDA crossed $4.5 billion.
Reacting to the positive development, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif thanked the overseas Pakistanis for reposing trust in their motherland. He termed overseas Pakistanis an asset to the country, who always contributed positively towards strengthening the national economy. Furthermore, he expressed full support and patronage to the RDA scheme. He said the government was taking steps for providing facilitation to the expatriates.
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“Our government stands firmly behind the Roshan Digital Account scheme. Happy that yesterday State Bank received $57 million the largest inflow in a day ever. We have now crossed $4.5 billion in total deposits. I thank overseas Pakistanis for reposing their trust in the motherland,” Shehbaz Sharif tweeted.
Our government stands firmly behind Roshan Digital Account scheme. Happy that yesterday State Bank received $57 million the largest inflow in a day ever. We have now crossed $4.5 billion in total deposits. I thank overseas Pakistanis for reposing their trust in the motherland.
— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) June 22, 2022
Positive development?
Amid the continuous pressure on the Pakistani rupee against the US dollar and the depleting foreign exchange reserves. For instance, the Pakistani rupee continued its free fall and crossed the 210 thresholds against the US dollar (57.22 against the dirham) for the first time in the interbank market on Monday.
Therefore, the continued trust of overseas Pakistanis with record remittances comes as a sign of relief and an attempt to stabilize the currency.
On the other hand, the SBP had earlier revealed that on a year-on-year basis, the remittances decreased from $2.5 billion in May 2021 to $2.3 billion in the same period of the current fiscal year. On a month-on-month basis, the inflows of remittances also declined from $3.1 billion in April 2022 to $2.3 billion in April 2022.
Read more: Overseas Pakistanis deposit $4b in RDA
Meanwhile, the overseas Pakistani workers’ remittances grew by 6.3 percent in 11 months (Jul-May) of the current fiscal year to US$28.4 billion against the inflows of $26.7 billion in the same period of the previous year.
The highest remittances of about $7.059 billion were received from Saudi Arabia during the July-May period. Inflows from the UK and US grew 8.5pc and 18.5pc to $4.025bn and $2.8bn, respectively.