(11 September 2015)
Overseas remittances play a critical role in boosting Forex reserve and balance trade deficit by 90 percent therefore steps must be taken to ensure its smooth flow by establishing an independent authority and alter existing laws which are promoting undocumented economy, a business leader said Friday.
Check should be enhanced on remittances in place of tax to discourage tax evasion and terror financing through this channel, said President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum (PBIF) and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain.
In a statement issued here today, he said that many countries are facing economic crisis but remittances continue to increase which should be a matter of concern.
Existing laws prohibit government agencies to ask about the source of remittances which help corrupt elite, bureaucrats and dishonest politicians to clean their ill-gotten money.
Increasing remittances has nothing to do with the trust of people on the economic policies otherwise exports and investment would not have been dwindled to alarming level, he added.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that remittances saw an upward trend by 5.42 percent in the first two months of current fiscal while exports declined by 10.27 percent in the same period.
Last year, developing countries received 435 billion dollars as remittances in which Pakistan’s share stood at 18.4 billion dollars. Pakistan received 65 percent of the money from Middle East where some countries are busy in destabilizing Pakistan.
Recently an Arab country officially threatened Pakistan of dire consequences over the issue of Yemen while Pakistan received 35 percent additional remittances from the same country.
Similarly, remittances from another brotherly Muslim country which is promoting terrorism in Pakistan since a decade have been increased by 19 percent.
The sliding oil prices have destabilized the budgets of both countries compelling them to cut development expenditures. Expecting increased remittances from sliding economies is deception.
