KARACHI: The Governor of State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Dr Reza Baqir said that now we have better foreign exchange reserves position despite the pandemic crisis in Pakistan and the institutional reforms adopted by the central bank in coordination with the Prime Minister Imran Khan vision.
Addressing the inauguration ceremony of opening Digital Roshan Account by Habib Metro Bank (HMB) in Karachi, the governor SBP said, “it all became possible with the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan as he told me to connect the overseas Pakistani with the Pakistani banking system.” We have started meetings with the stakeholders and made committee headed by Dr Murtaza Syed Deputy Governor SBP to make it possible.
Dr Reza Baqir said, “now we have customers of around 97 countries of the world, and they had opened their accounts in different banks in Pakistan through Roshan Digital Accounts with investments of $418 million so far in last six to seven months.”
“How much opportunity of investment is in this scheme as we have around 7-9 million overseas Pakistani in all over the world,” the governor claimed.
He further claimed that out of $418 million the country has received $370 million in the Naya Pakistan Certificate scheme while $165 million in the conventional banking system.
He further claimed that it became possible only because of the hassle-free and simplicity in the process of account opening with Roshan Digital Pakistan.
He asked the banker to convince the overseas Pakistani to open their accounts in Pakistan as this country’s crises period is now over. The current account deficit now turned into a surplus because of the government policies.
“There is need to convey this message that their amount would be saved in Pakistan and they can earn a huge profit on it as the economic situation of Pakistan is much better compared to previous governments,” Reza Baqir said.
He said that ‘No One’ including Federal Board of Revenue will ask the account holders about their wealth and earning if they are documented abroad. It was the biggest hurdle in our way to complete it, which Prime Minister Imran Khan and FBR have removed.
Earlier, the Pakistani living abroad were hesitating to invest in Pakistan owing to the current account deficit, but now the country has a surplus account and can easily face other economic shocks.
The governor said that we had strengthened Pakistan’s economy through institutional reforms. Now investors can see how this reform saves the country from the pandemic situation during Coronavirus in the last 11 months, while several African and Latin American emerging market countries defaulted.
He later thanked the president and chairman of Habib Metro Bank for joining Roshan Digital Account platform.
The governor Reza Baqir advised Habib Metro Bank’s official to create Roshan Digital Account units in their offices all over the world to facilitate customers who desired to open accounts with Pakistan. He said all the customers’ issues should be solved on time; otherwise, this scheme will not be continued in the future.
Dr Ishrat Husain, advisor to the PM on Institutional Reforms and Austerity, Murtaza Syed Deputy Governor SBP, Dr Shamshad Akhtar, former governor SBP, Arif Habib chairman Arif Habib Group and Mohsin Nathani, and others also speak on the occasion.
