President invites expats to benefit from Pakistan’s secure investment policies

DUBAI: President Arif Alvi expressed the hope that Non-Resident Pakistanis (NRPs) living in UAE would take maximum advantage of the State Bank’s Roshan Apna Ghar scheme and use it to fulfill their and their families’ housing needs in Pakistan.

He was inaugurating a property exhibition for the UAE based NRPs arranged by Pakistani banks offering Roshan Digital Account (RDA), in partnership with builders and developers, to showcase their products being offered under RDA.

Mr. Abdul Razak Dawood, Advisor to Prime Minister on Commerce, Textile, Industries & Production and Investment was also present at the occasion.

The exhibition was attended by a large number of Pakistanis, various UAE based Pakistani associations, senior State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) management, presidents/CEOs of commercial banks, UAE and Pakistan based property developers, and Pakistan’s embassy officials in UAE. Appreciating the vast potential of UAE based NRPs, President Alvi said Pakistanis living in the UAE have significantly contributed towards development and economic growth of UAE and most of them regard UAE as their second home.

He said that UAE is a major destination for Pakistani workers and their contribution in remittances is significant. He observed that SBP, with the active support of commercial banks, has provided NRPs a unique opportunity to buy a home that hitherto, had been a very difficult task for various reasons.

He felt satisfied that finally an end-to-end digital process had made it possible for NRPs. He shared his thoughts divulging on various strengths as a nation that Pakistanis should be proud of. Governor SBP Reza Baqir said RDA has proved to be a huge success and become a household name connecting over 250,000 NRPs under one umbrella besides attracting over $2.5 billion since its launch in September last year. He said it has been a priority of the government and SBP to resolve the issues of NRPs living across the globe, as they fully understand their potential for lifting the country’s economy.

Advisor Dawood said the economy is heading in the right direction and maintaining a healthy growth path.

He especially mentioned textile and cement sector where growth trends are remarkable, while automobile, consumer goods and food and likes are following similar trend.

Dawood said that country’s exports growth has already picked up and he is confident that it will keep the momentum and grow further this year. He also mentioned SBP’s Temporary Economic Refinance Facility (TERF) for helping industry expand and modernize, besides SBP’s various initiatives for facilitating the public at large. Roshan Apna Ghar is an initiative of SBP for Non Resident Pakistanis (NRPs) to buy, build or renovate their homes in Pakistan through their own investment or bank financing.