To help Pakistanis get employment abroad, the government has fixed a target of 360,000 workers for employment abroad during 2004.
The director-general, Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment, has convened a meeting of senior officers of the Bureau, and all the protectors of emigrants in-charge of field offices on January 9 and 10 to discuss strategies and plans to achieve the target.
The representatives of Pakistan Overseas Employment Protectors' Association are also being associated in the deliberations.
It is stated that foreign employment is one of the major sectors to absorb workforce and earn foreign exchange.
According to official figures, workers' remittances declined by 14 percent to 906 million dollars during first quarter of the current fiscal year as compared to the corresponding period last year. But this does not seem a source of concern, as it is largely caused by the abolition of the Haj Sponsorship Scheme (HSS).
Adjusting for this scheme, remittances are seen to be only 2.1 percent lower than the corresponding figure for the first quarter of fiscal 2002/03.
The greater significance for the future prospects is the declining trend in remittance inflows after peaking in second quarter of fiscal 2002/03. However, this trend even is far from clear in recent months.
Significantly, almost the entire decline in aggregate remittances into Pakistan was accounted for by lower flows from the US and the UAE.
In view of the uncertainty over quantum of remittances, since second quarter of last year, the State Bank of Pakistan projections during the year 2004 remittances have been conservatively estimated between 3.6 and 3.7 billion dollars, particularly as more than 200,000 new emigrant workers joined the rank of overseas Pakistanis during last year. They are likely to add to the flow of remittances ,once they are settled down.
According to informed sources, the new efforts of the government to fix the target for 2004 will augment remittances for the country.
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