* Government to announce special concessions for overseas
Prime Minister Imran Khan said, the government of Pakistan is working on policy to proclaim special incentives for overseas Pakistanis, who send remittances through legal channels. He was addressing the launching ceremony of Delivery of Home Remittances Scheme by Overseas Pakistanis through Pakistan Post. According to the source, the Prime Minister urged now families of overseas Pakistanis will be able to get remittances through a network of 500 designated post offices in Pakistan.
Prime Minister said overseas Pakistanis are a precious asset for the country and they played a vital role in the development of their homeland. Imran Khan already said that with 2019 being the year of difficulties and economic stabilisation, 2020 would prove as the year of economic development for Pakistan. During the year 2020, the focus will be on economic growth, job creation, poverty reduction and uplift of poor through the Ehsaas programme. The prime minister also said that the vision for Naya Pakistan was based upon discarding the old mindset and patronising the merit system which in the past had badly hampered the functioning of all the government departments. He said when they talked about the Naya Pakistan, they wanted to nurture a tendency of making new thoughts coupled with innovative ideas to make the lives of people easier. Drawing at length the difference between monarchy and democracy, the prime minister observed that in the past, the rulers wanted the people to serve them. The British rulers did not come to serve the people in the Sub-continent rather they looked upon the people as their servants, he said, adding but in the democratic set-up, rulers had to serve the people. Imran Khan lamented that even after independence, the people did not change their mindset and the officials at the public offices continued with the same strand of ruling elite. The prime minister said that attempts were being made by his government to assist the merit system prevail and counted recent drastic measures to make the PIA a profit making organization and curbing the losses of Rs100 billion in power sector. He said that the year 2019 had been the tough one because of various issues and financial challenges and expressed the resolve to lift the country out of these challenges.
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The Government of Pakistan statistics showed that the remittances recorded a significant growth of 8.45 percent during July-April FY 2019 as against to 5.36 percent last year and reached to US$ 17.875 billion during first ten months of fiscal year 2018-19 as compared US$ 16.482 billion during the same period last year. On the back of initiatives taken by the government of Pakistan and the trend observed, it was expected that target of US$ 21.2 billion for FY2019 is probable to be achieved. The major share of remittances are from Saudi Arabia 23.36 percent (US $ 4175.32 million), UAE 21.19 percent (US $ 3786.96 million), USA 15.6 percent (US $ 2786.35 million), UK 15.41 (US $ 2755.52 million) , other GCC countries 9.61 percent ( US $ 1717.86 million), Malaysia 7.06 percent ( US $ 1262.67 million ), EU 2.72 percent ( US $ 485.89 million) and other countries 5.07 percent. The remittances during July-April FY2019 declined by 9.28 percent from EU countries, 5.40 percent from other GCC countries. However, a marginal rise in remittances has been observed from Saudi Arabia, 2.08 percent as against to 9.5 percent decline in the same periods previous year. However, visa fee reduction from the Kingdom was expected to increase the inflows in this year. A strong increase from USA and UK provided a major push to inflows. Remittances rose by 21.82 percent form USA and 16.59 percent from UK. Economic turnaround, falling unemployment and rising wages in the US and the UK in the recent past have supported inflows from these countries.
Prime Minister also appreciated Minister for Postal Services Murad Saeed and his team for revamping the Pakistan Post and turning its income to next level. Earlier, speaking on the occasion, Murad Saeed said, Pakistan Post has the largest network in Pakistan. He said foreign remittances initiative is just the beginning and now Pakistan Post will be offering Pakistan’s biggest banking network titled Pakistan Post Bank in 2020. He said network of Pakistan Post will be improved from existing twelve to twenty-seven thousand locations in 2020.