The SBP did not reveal in its data as to how much of the $7.9 billion went to Dubai
LAHORE: I refer to the deliberations on the Economic Reforms Act of 1992 by some members of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance in this newspaper’s business section titled, “Pakistanis legally sending $2 billion abroad yearly” (Aug 25). After an official of the State Bank of Pakistan informed the committee that a total amount of $7.9 billion was moved out of Pakistan through forex accounts during the last five years, an honourable member from the PTI, Asad Umar, responded by saying that the data from Dubai land records show that Pakistanis hold property worth $6.6 billion in the city. The SBP did not reveal in its data as to how much of the $7.9 billion went to Dubai and how much of it went to other countries and for what purposes.
Therefore, an important question arises in readers’ minds as to how Mr Umar established that there is a clear link between $7.9 billion moved out of Pakistan during the last five years and property worth $6.6 billion owned by Pakistanis in Dubai. The data from records showing that Pakistanis own property worth $6.6 billion in Dubai does not necessarily mean that the purchase of property in Dubai is financed with the money sent out of Pakistan. There are a lot of Pakistanis working in the Middle East who have bought properties in Dubai from the money earned and saved abroad.
Another honourable member of the committee, Abdul Rashid Godil, termed the Economic Reform Act of 1992, a “flawed” law. I would like to ask the respectable member of the finance committee that if the law is “flawed”, then why has it been in force during the last 24 years or so? What are the flaws in this law? What are the lawmakers’ suggestions to remove the flaws, if any? I am wondering as to what the takeaway is for an ordinary citizen of Pakistan from the above reported deliberations of the Standing Committee on Finance of National Assembly.
Ejaz Ahmad Magoon
Published in The Express Tribune, August 29th, 2016.
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