Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khans second appeal to overseas Pakistanis has failed to yield desired results as less than 600 expatriates have invested a mere $26 million in Diaspora bonds, Express News reported.
Raising funds from non-resident Pakistanis was Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government’s out-of-the-box solution to the country’s current account deficit problem.
Launching the Pakistan Banao Certificate in January, Prime Minister Imran Khan had hoped for a huge response from Pakistanis living in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.
However, according to sources in the Ministry of Finance and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP)
at the end of June, less than 600 non-resident and resident Pakistanis invested roughly $26 million in Pakistan Banao Certificates, said the report.
The number of participants fell even below 500 after excluding multiple transactions by one person, sources added.
The SBP, which administered the Prime Minister’s flagship scheme, declined to officially disclose the amount invested in the Diaspora bonds. SBP’s chief spokesman Abid Qamar said the Ministry of Finance should answer queries about the Diaspora bonds.
This was the second major appeal that PM Imran made to expatriate Pakistanis, which also met the same fate as the first appeal that the premier had made in September last year for raising funds for Diamer-Bhasha and Mohmand dam projects.
(IANS)