PM hails expats as Roshan remittances cross $500m mark

By News Desk

ISLAMABAD: As the government’s Roshan Digital Accounts initiative saw foreign remittances crossing the $500 million mark, Prime Minister Imran Khan pledged his government’s commitment to facilitating Pakistani expatriates so their “immense potential” could be leveraged for economic growth.

In the last five months, overseas Pakistanis from 97 countries have opened over 80,000 Roshan Digital accounts and sent $500 million to the country. Addressing an event held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to mark the milestone, the Prime Minister said Pakistan was gaining economic stability and credited the government’s “effective steps” to set the country in the right direction.

The ceremony, held at the PM House, was attended by Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, PM’s Adviser on Institutional Reforms Dr Ishrat Hussain, Commerce Adviser Abdul Razak Dawood, along with brand ambassadors of banks, including squash legend Jahangir Khan, and former cricketers Ramiz Raja and Waqar Younis. Khan once again termed the nine million strong overseas Pakistanis the “biggest asset of the country” and said the strategy involving banking sector yielded successful results in increased foreign remittances.

He asked the State Bank of Pakistan to maintain 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 Roshan Digital Accounts to be run on electronic media across the world.

The Prime Minister appreciated the role of the banking sector in encouraging the account opening by overseas Pakistanis, adding that the money inflow would play a significant role in strengthening the national economy.

In addition to 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 the less-privileged segment of society. “Both of these areas are important in improving the lives of the common man,” he added.

The Prime Minister said all of the country’s economic indicators were witnessing positive trends, despite the situation of coronavirus pandemic. He mentioned that the volume of Pakistan’s exports surpassed its competitors in the Sub-continent, including India and Bangladesh. The textile industry boomed and the looms in Faisalabad and Gujranwala faced shortage of workers due to the record number of orders received from the international market, he added.

SBP Governor Dr Reza Baqir said overseas Pakistanis could open their accounts with Pakistani banks right from their computers at home — 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 SBP. He announced that on the desire of overseas Pakistanis to reduce transfer fee on transactions, only $5-9 would be charged, “no matter how big the amount would be”. The Prime Minister awarded the banks for their best performance towards Roshan Digital Accounts, including UBL (highest number of accounts opened).