Pakistan PM Imran Khan launches two new digital initiatives for expats

Islamabad: Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday launched two new digital initiatives to help expatriates, including car financing scheme for their family members back home and digital donation platform.

The initiatives were announced at a ceremony to mark the milestone of US$1 billion deposits in Roshan Digital Accounts – which offers expats banking and investment facilities in Pakistan. The event was held to express gratitude to the overseas Pakistanis for their extraordinary response to the initiative and to pledge the government’s support to them.

Overseas Pakistanis are country’s most valuable asset

Describing the nine million overseas Pakistanis as the country’s “biggest asset”, Khan thanked them, saying that their remittances had kept afloat the national economy during difficult times. Inflows of foreign exchange through the Roshan Digital Account (RDA) recently crossed the $1 billion mark in just over seven months, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said. Khan also appreciated the overseas Pakistanis and the state bank for their support to improve the country’s foreign exchange inflows.

Remittances are a vital source of income for Pakistan. Overseas Pakistanis have made a substantial contribution to the country’s economy by sending home large remittances almost equal to annual exports. “By the time we achieve the expected volume of exports, the remittances by overseas Pakistanis is the only way to keep our economy moving,” Khan said. The premier particularly acknowledged the services of the labour class working abroad in harsh conditions and sending their hard-earned money home.

Car finance scheme

One of the initiatives launched is Roshan Apni Car (car finance), which offers overseas Pakistanis with RDAs facility to apply for car financing for their family members in Pakistan. Banks are offering both conventional and Islamic modes of financing at attractive mark-up rates starting from 7 percent with fast processing and delivery.

Digital donations

Through ‪Roshan Samaaji Khidmat (charity) initiative, overseas Pakistanis who are RDA holders can donate to leading charities, hospitals and educational institutes in Pakistan and meet their Zakat obligations using a convenient one-stop platform. They can also make direct contributions to the government’s poverty alleviation program called Ehsaas – the country’s biggest social protection program. An estimated hundreds of millions of dollars are sent to Pakistan for charity from across the world. The new initiative would help streamline the donation process and make it more transparent.

Roshan Digital Account

Roshan digital account is one of the major initiatives of SBP in collaboration with commercial banks operating in Pakistan to attract the diaspora to invest their savings in their country’s development. The accounts offer banking solutions including payments and investment opportunities for millions of non-resident Pakistanis including Pakistan Origin Card (POC) holders. The RDA allows expats to remotely open an account in Pakistan through an entirely digital process within 48 hours. More than 100,000 accounts have been opened so far.