Pakistan turns to expatriates for cash, floats bond.

Byline: Syed Irfan Raza

ISLAMABAD -- The government on Thursday formally launched 'Pakistan Banao Certificates' (PBCs) to tap into the savings of over eight million overseas Pakistanis for securing much-needed foreign exchange reserves to stabilise the country's economy.

The PBCs were launched by Prime Minister Imran Khan at a ceremony at his office.

Urging overseas Pakistanis to come forward and enthusiastically purchase PBCs to make this scheme a success, the prime minister said: 'The scheme would not only help the Pakistani diaspora to earn reasonable profit from these certificates but also contribute towards reviving the national economy at this critical juncture.'

He said the economic crisis would continue to persist unless the country's agriculture and tourism sectors yielded desirable results.

Mr Khan said before coming to power he was not aware how bad the country's economic situation was though he was not expecting anything good at all.

PM says Pakistanis would have faced more difficult time if government had gone to IMF

He said the government had not made any fresh deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), adding that if it would have gone to the IMF the people of the country would have faced more difficult time. 'It was the easiest way to go to IMF for relief, as the same was done by the previous governments, but we chose the other route to go to friendly nations and ask them for assistance,' the prime minister said.

Stressing the need for robust tourism and agriculture sectors, he said Pakistan was blessed with a lot of tourist spots, including religious tourism sites of Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh and Sufi communities. 'This can result in billions of dollars worth of tourism,' he added.

According to Finance Minister Asad Umar, the PBCs are available with three-year and five-year maturity period at profit rates of 6.25 per cent and 6.75pc per year, respectively.

Minimum investment size is $5,000 with no upper limit. Overseas Pakistanis having Computerised National Identity Cards, National Identity Card for Overseas Pakistanis and Pakistan Origin Card and maintaining their bank accounts abroad can invest in the PBCs digitally through a dedicated secure website (www.pakistanbanaocertificates.gov.pk).

The website has complete details of the certificates. Every investor will be issued a unique identity number and profits in US dollars will be remitted after every six months to the investor's specified account maintained abroad.

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