KARACHI: Experts have urged the government to create appealing investment opportunities to incentivize legal inflows of much-needed remittances.
Hailing the recently launched crackdown against black market forex trade, Zafar Paracha, General Secretary of the Exchange Companies Association of Pakistan (ECAP), stressed that combating the black market isn’t solely about supply, but it’s also about generating demand.
“Pakistan must create appealing investment opportunities to incentivize legal inflows. Encouraging foreign direct investment, boosting infrastructure, and supporting small enterprises can create a conducive environment for overseas Pakistanis to contribute to national growth,” he said while talking to Business Recorder.
He said Pakistan launched the Pakistan Remittance Initiative (PRI) in 2009 to streamline remittance procedures, offering competitive rates and user-friendly online banking to make formal channels more attractive. The recent nationwide crackdown targeting black market inflows has significantly helped bolster Pakistan’s foreign reserves, he added.
“Complex regulations, cumbersome paperwork, and limited access to financial institutions make formal channels less appealing compared to the ease and speed of informal networks,” Paracha said. “Yet, this convenience comes at a cost. The black market fosters tax evasion, weakens the financial system, and exposes individuals and businesses to fraud,” he added.
Commenting on the issue of black-market forex trade, Rashid Ashraf, CEO of ACE Money Transfer, said most Pakistani diasporas turn towards informal channels like hawala/hundi so as to avoid taxes and formal procedures, which they wrongly consider to be complex and tricky. “Consequently, the money that flows through unregulated channels assists various crimes and terror financing while putting Pakistani expats’ hard-earned money at stake,” he maintained.
Rashid Ashraf said to reinforce declining remittance inflows to Pakistan from abroad, ACE Money Transfer has entered into a collaboration with Bank Alfalah through which expatriates will be provided with seamless, secure, and swift financial services.
“Our partnership with Bank Alfalah is a strategic move that’s poised to reinforce the declining remittance inflows to Pakistan from abroad,” Rashid Ashraf said, adding that the collaboration with Bank Alfalah will revolutionise the remittance landscape in Pakistan.
President and CEO of Bank Alfalah, Atif Bajwa, said the partnership with ACE Money Transfer proved to be a pivotal step in enhancing the ease of sending international remittances to Pakistan as well as offering an unparalleled blend of convenience and reliability to the Pakistani diaspora.
“We hope to see positive results of our joint campaign with ACE Money Transfer to encourage overseas Pakistanis worldwide to extend their helping hands to Pakistan’s foreign reserves in the form of remittances sent through regulated channels,” he further said. “Bank Alfalah, through its strategic alliance with ACE Money Transfer, can actively contribute to the economic inflow crucial to the nation’s stability.
By integrating their offerings beyond mere transactional services, Bank Alfalah attempts to facilitate financial transfers and also enriches the remittance experience,” he said.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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