Islamabad: The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry has urged the government to channel all remittances into investment and other saving instruments, a news source reported. For this purpose, the government should take policy measures and introduce feasible incentives, it said.
The ICCI is of the opinion that utilising remittances for investment purposes would encourage business activities and enhance the national economic growth. To facilitate these measures, the government needs to develop required expertise and institutional mechanism, it added
The authority added that remittances boosted consumption, which benefited the local industries. These funds would be even more helpful when channelled towards savings and investment instruments, it stated.
The authority, while citing examples of Chinese and Indian expatriates, said that Islamabad should also take measures for facilitating overseas Pakistani so they could launch their business ventures in Pakistan. They also cited examples of Sub-Saharan African countries that improved their GDP through the diversion of remittances towards investment.
ICCI revealed that Pakistan had received more remittances than foreign direct investment (FDI) and development assistance in the period between July-March 2018 when the figures exceeded USD 21-billion-mark; an increase of 9% compared to the previous year’s inflows.
