Documentary to raise awareness of illegal remittance channels

NBP chief estimates amount sent via Hawala/Hundi to be $6-7b a year

KARACHI: After failing to fully destroy illegal networks - called Hawala/Hundi locally - of remittances and witnessing a drop in the amount sent through legal channels last year, state-owned National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) has kick-started a soft campaign to curb the practice.

To increase attractiveness of legal channels, the bank is also introducing measures to beat the speed of delivering remittances to beneficiaries by Hawala/Hundi operators.



“Remittances have become a lifeline for the economy and we cannot afford to lose them anymore,” State Bank of Pakistan Deputy Governor Jameel Ahmed said while addressing the launching ceremony of a TV campaign, comprising of a documentary drama, on Thursday.

Remittances are a major source of foreign exchange for Pakistan and aids in financing imports - especially oil- and reducing the impact of current account deficit which is the biggest challenge to the economy these days.

Pakistan recorded a drop of 3% in remittances to $19.30 billion in fiscal year 2016-17 from $19.91 billion in the preceding year, he said, noting that the trend has reversed in the first two months of the current fiscal year.

NBP President Saeed Ahmed estimated the volume of remittances through illegal channels at $6-7 billion, which is equivalent to around one-third of the legal remittances. The short documentary drama narrates stories of loss of funds by overseas Pakistanis at the hands of Hawala/Hundi operators and uses education to convince people to avoid illegal means.



The bank has established a specialised ‘Payment Services and Digital Banking Department’ for increasing pace of sending remittances home. The department will also look into the issues faced by remittance senders like high cost of transaction and unattractive exchange rates.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 22^nd, 2017.

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