KARACHI:
Overseas Pakistanis both qualified and manual workers remit money to support their dependent families living in Pakistan. Those who manage to acquire foreign citizenship along with their families hardly remit except for investing in the lucrative real estate business. This being considered as foreign investment is legally transferable back to countries where they reside.
Pakistani expatriates, with dependent families living in Pakistan, will continue to remit their hard-earned money to support their loved ones. However, the widening gap between interbank and open market exchange rates, inflation, etc have resulted in stress and losses for the overseas workers and their families who are beneficiaries. This has forced our expatriates to resort to Hundi and other non-banking channels. It is an accepted fact that real estate investors who make billions after paying a nominal tax patronise Hundi operators. Foreign exchange remittances are allegedly being transferred to them abroad, whilst the poor beneficiaries of these remittances are paid in Pakistan at an exchange rate more than the interbank rate. This has been going on for decades now. Those who benefit from Hundi are the powerful few corrupt elites of this country who prefer to buy properties and settle their families abroad permanently.
The federal government and all state institutions must rise to face the challenge and offer our expatriates a bonus of at least 3% to 4%, above the prevailing interbank rate, to boost much-needed foreign exchange remittances. These remittances, from the Gulf and the Middle East, by our expatriates working on work visas constitute a significant share of total remittances. The reverse flow of foreign exchange from Pakistan through non-banking channels can be curtailed provided there is political will and no conflicts of interest.
Malik Tariq Ali
Lahore
Published in The Express Tribune, December 16th, 2022.
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