Asad seeks proposals for increasing remittances through formal channels

ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Asad Umar chaired a high level meeting here on Monday to discuss possible measures to increase remittances through formal channels.

Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development Zulfiqar Bukhari also attended the meeting. The meeting deliberated upon the issues and problems faced by the Pakistani diaspora in sending their remittances to Pakistan through formal banking channels. Issues among others included lack of banking facilities for the workers abroad. The meeting observed that hawala-hundi mafia takes advantage of this deficiency.

Various stakeholders attending the meeting highlighted procedural and technical improvements that could facilitate the use of formal banking channels for remittances. The finance minister tasked the Overseas Pakistanis Division to carry out a comprehensive survey of Pakistan labour force’s export destinations as well as their areas of origin in Pakistan. He entrusted the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) with the task to devise mechanism for opening of bank accounts by all Pakistani workers, both at home and the country of their employment with the facility of debit card. He asked the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to finalise proposals/incentives for promoting remittances through formal channels. Further, he directed Nadra to present a concrete proposal on its technology-based initiatives on the issue. He directed that all concerned must share with him their proposals, complete in all respects, at the next meeting. Senior officials of the Ministry of Finance, Overseas Pakistanis Division, FBR, SBP, Nadra and NBP attended the meeting.