Pak collected $30mn from expats through 'Pakistan Banao Certificate'
Pakistan's Imran Khan government has collected around $30 million under the 'Pakistan Banao Certificate (PBC) from the country's diaspora living abroad, Pakistani media reported.
Launched earlier this year with an aim to generate investment and revive the economy, the 'Pakistan Banao Certificate' is meant for sale to overseas Pakistanis, said reports.
According to Finance Ministry spokesperson Umar Hameed, Pakistan Banao Certificate is a script-less issue which does not require any extension. "The scheme is continuing," Hameed said, adding that only the advertisement campaign ended on June 30, 2019.
"So far the government had attracted around $30 million," Hameed said. The government had fixed a profit rate of 6.25 per cent and 6.75 per cent on the certificate for three and five years respectively.
Sources said the government could not launch Pakistan Banao Certificate in the US, UK and some other countries, which have a large Pakistani population, as the Finance Ministry did not get the required permissions.
Top officials of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said the Fund for Diamer-Bhasha and Mohmand dams, which was initiated on the direction of the Supreme Court, an amount of Rs10.9 billion had been collected, which will be invested in government's treasury bills through the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP).
The officials said the fund had no use if it was lying in SBP accounts. The investment into treasury bills is totally guaranteed and risk-free so it was decided to use this avenue to earn mark-up at a time when the banks were earning good margins because of higher interest rates.
