RDA receives highest single day deposits of $57 million

KARACHI: Roshan Digital Account (RDA) received $57 million from overseas Pakistanis on Tuesday, setting an all-time deposits record for a single day.

“Today marks yet another historic day in Roshan Digital Account, with $57 million in deposit inflows, the highest ever daily figure. With this significant increase, total deposits in RDA have crossed $4.5 billion,” the State Bank of Pakistan’s official Twitter handle said.

“We are humbled by the continuous trust and commitment of our overseas Pakistanis,” it added.

Pakistan received $4.525 billion inflows through RDA as of June 21. These funds stood at $4.356 billion till the end of May. The non-resident Pakistanis (NRPs) opened 416,837 accounts from 175 countries. These accounts were 403,750 at the end of April.

However, RDA inflows fell 22.85 percent to $189 million in May.

Though the SBP did not reveal the latest numbers on investments made in the Naya Pakistan Certificates (NPCs), the available data showed that from September 2020 to the end of May 2022, the total investment made via NPCs amounted to $2.9 billion, with $1.5 billion invested in the conventional NPCs and $1.3 billion in Islamic certificates. The NRPs invested $39 million in the stock market.

Increase in RDA was a healthy sign for Pakistan as it supported the foreign exchange reserves at a time when the country was struggling with dried external financing amid a delay in the revival of the International Monetary Fund loan programme.

The reserves held by the SBP fell by $241 million or 2.6 percent to $8.99 billion as of June 10—enough to cover 1.32 months of imports.

The country’s trade deficit widened by an alarming 57.85 percent year-on-year to an all-time high at $43.33 billion during the 11 months of this fiscal year fueled by higher imports. The import bill increased 44.28 percent to $72.18 billion in (July-May) FY2022. Exports increased 27.78 percent to $28.84 billion.

The widening of the current account deficit and increasing external debt repayments indicate increased pressure on the forex reserves, adding to worries about the balance of payments that are dragging the local currency to record lows.

With the falling reserves, the SBP has no ample ammunition to defend the rupee.

The country recorded a current account deficit of $13.8 billion in 10 months of FY2022 against $543 million a year ago. The surge in the current account gap was attributed to higher import payments amid a spike in global fuel prices and other commodities.

The import and external debt payments along with the lack of potential capital inflows forced the rupee to dip to an all-time low of 211.48 per dollar on Tuesday.