KARACHI: Resident Pakistanis having foreign assets — as declared in their latest wealth statement filed with the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) — may invest in US dollar denominated Naya Pakistan Certificates (NPCs) by opening a Foreign Currency Value Account (FCVA), the State Bank notified on Tuesday.

However, the SBP said this will be subject to a number of conditions to make the investments clean.

The first condition for the resident Pakistanis to invest in NPCs is that at the time of opening the FCVA, they must present their latest wealth statement filed with FBR or a signed affidavit stating the value of their assets held abroad as declared in their latest wealth statement filed with FBR.

The investment must be funded by remittance from abroad and their total investment (including the NPCs) through FCVA shall not exceed the value of assets abroad declared in the above-referred wealth statement. Such accretion, as may be attributable to interest and profit or gain on disposal thereof, in respect of which adequate evidence is provided in the form of bank statement, profit and sale deed respectively, the central bank added.

“The agent banks thus while processing the investment requests in NPCs or other permissible avenues by resident Pakistanis who have opened an FCVA with them shall ensure compliance with the conditions as stated above,” said the SBP.

The rest of the process for investment in NPCs shall be the same as prescribed earlier, it added.

Appreciating the step for increasing investment in the NPCs, bankers said the conditions to investment in these certificates for resident Pakistani look tough. This also shows that the State Bank is well aware about the ill-gotten assets of many Pakistanis, they added.

Published in Dawn, October 21st, 2020