Road shows to be held for Pakistan Banao Certificates

ISLAMABAD: The government, to attract direct investment to strengthen the country’s foreign reserves, has decided to kick start road shows in various countries within a couple of weeks, Special Assistant to PM on Overseas Pakistanis Syed Zulfikar Bukhari said on Monday.

Talking to APP, he said, “The campaign, to be initiated from Great Britain will also cover Europe and Gulf countries, is aimed at convincing overseas Pakistanis (to) buy Pakistan Banao Certificates, (PBC) - a US dollar denominated retail instrument for expats offering attractive incentives.”

Overseas Pakistanis having foreign bank accounts could encash these certificates in dollars/rupees anytime, but redemption in dollars before the first year would levy its one percent, he said. Moreover, it would be exempted from withholding tax and deduction of Zakat.

This was a great investment opportunity for overseas Pakistanis, as interest would be from 6.25 to 6.75 percent per annum on $5,000 denomination without upper limit having three and five years maturity time, respectively.

Bukhari would be travelling to UK by February 6 to formally launch the promotional campaign and then move to UAE, Qatar, and other countries to sensitise Pakistani Diaspora about the PBC benefits.

Another campaign “Return in Rupee” was also on the cards to create awareness and request expats to redeem the bond in rupee, to help strengthen the local currency.

He said other federal ministers would also be educating the potential overseas Pakistanis during their foreign visits about the advantages of the certificate to engage for making Pakistan a progressive state.

The economic friendly initiative was first of its kind, which allowed an individual to make investments unlike the two other bonds - Sukuk and Eurobond - issued by the previous regime in the last five years.

Bukhari said that for the previously issued bonds the customer had to produce KYC documents, particularly to prove identity/addresses, which made their processes complicated. “But, in this case, the applicant could buy it online by fulfilling the condition of NICOP and valid documentation,” the PM’s special assistant said.

He also stressed the need for opening up this instrument further for hedge and pension funds to attract more foreign investment. Special Assistant to PM on Media Affairs Iftikhar Durrani said, “Remittances through legal means was the government’s main focus, as over $15 billion were being landed in Pakistan through hawala-hundi.”

Official sources said the government might also make it compulsory for interested private banks to promote this initiative through different ways.