The inflow through Roshan Digital Account reached $1.87 billion at the top of July, with the primary month of the present financial year witnessing the second-highest inflow since the RDA was launched in September last year.
Data released by the depository financial institution of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday shows that the country received $307 million in July compared to $310m in June, reflecting a trend with an inflow of over $300m per month.
The RDA was introduced by the SBP in September 2020 for non-resident Pakistanis to enable them to remotely open bank accounts in Pakistan through online digital portals without physically visiting branches.
The inflow through RDA was just $7m in September 2020. However, it started increasing and reached $1.87bn by the top of July.
SBP Governor Dr. Reza Baqir said last month that since September 2020, the RDA initiative for overseas Pakistanis had generated new financial inflows of $1.8bn which helped boost the country’s exchange reserves.
The increased exchange reserves, which stood at $17.85bn by the top of July, improved the country’s image within the international market. In July, Pakistan raised a further $1bn through a faucet issuance of its Eurobond that fetched $2.5bn in March.
The depository financial institution said that Pakistan’s external position was at its strongest in several years. In line with SBP projections in March, the accounting deficit fell to only 0.6 percent of GDP. The SBP governor said this was a rock bottom accounting deficit in 10 years, supported by all-time high exports and remittances.
He also said that unlike several previous growth upturns in Pakistan, the present economic recovery would be amid external stability.
Despite higher inflows like record remittances, improved exports, and inflow through RDA, the local currency depreciated by seven percent against the US dollar over the past two months.
However, the depository financial institution governor recently said that Pakistan’s reserve buffers are expected to rise by another $2.8bn in August through the IMF’s planned new global SDR allocation.
He also said that the accounting deficit for the present financial year (FY22) might be within the range of 2-3pc, much above 0.6pc of GDP in FY21. This forecast badly hit the rate of exchange and importers rushed to book maximum dollars fearing more appreciation of the US currency against the rupee.
The SBP said that up to 3pc accounting deficit in FY22 would be better than that of 4pc and 6pc in FY17 and FY18, respectively. Pakistan needs up to $20bn for external payments in FY22 which is that the reason for the higher accounting deficit.
The number of RDAs opened by overseas Pakistanis reached 199,747 by the top of July this year
