Federal Minister for Finance Senator Ishaq Dar chaired a meeting of the Pakistan Remittance Initiative (PRI) at the ministry of finance on Tuesday.
In the presence of representatives of the major commercial banks, Moinuddin, head of PRI, gave a presentation to the chairman regarding various proposals to increase the flow of foreign remittances by Overseas Pakistanis to their homeland. He suggested that home remittances should be included in the list of core businesses of the banks, home remittance centres should be opened by various banks and placement of banks representatives with overseas entities. He also suggested that banks should establish dedicated remittance complaint resolution mechanism for improving home remittances through banks.
The finance minister appreciated the efforts of the commercial banks for doubling their efforts for the improvement of flow of foreign remittances in the country. He said high levels in remittance flows could have direct bearing on foreign exchange rates, domestic interest rates and balance of payments while having other indirect impact for macro-economic variables.
Senator Dar said the government had already cleared Rs 6 billion on account of payment of TT charges to the banks and the outstanding dues of Rs 3.46 billion will be cleared by March 21st to further encourage the banks in their efforts. In this manner, the government of Pakistan will be able to clear another circular debt inherited from the earlier government.
The federal minister directed the banks to identify the major migration networks and communicate with the leaders of these networks. The migrants will be encouraged to open bank accounts before leaving. NADRA would be requested to offer assistance in this regard. This will assist not only in understanding their preference matrix but also help the authorities in Pakistan to cover their expectations about desired remittance priorities.
