RemittancesGateway.org

Pakistan: Remittances rise to $800 million per month

Friday, 16 October 2009 08:08

Source: Dawn.com

The finance minister said that internal revenue generation and austerity measures were the panacea for the country’s economic woes. - File photo

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Finance Shaukat Tarin Thursday said the monthly remittances from expatriate Pakistanis have enlarged from $650 million to over $800 million following the launching of Pakistan remittances initiatives in May 2009.

Talking to state television, he said an advertisement campaign would soon be launched in the media to convince expatriate Pakistanis to send money to their dear ones through legal means.

Terming the internal revenue generation and austerity measures as the panacea for the country’s economic woes, the finance minister noted that there is no harm if the United States has pledged unconditional aid of $7.5 billion to Pakistan through the Kerry-Lugar bill.

The amount of Kerry-Lugar will be spent on the betterment of infrastructure and alleviating poverty from the country, he said.

Pakistan has been enduring losses worth billions of dollars in the anti-terror war. Unconditional aid like KLB is needed to cope with these losses, he noted.

USA is giving their tax payers’ money to Pakistan. There are no conditions, no interest, no returns attached with the KLB. The USA only wants right use of their money, he said.

Despite law and order problems in the country, foreign investment is steadily pouring into the telecom, oil, gas, banking, consumer goods and power sectors, he said, adding that overseas Pakistanis would be persuaded to invest in their motherland and help to make it self sustained.

Responding to a question, he said the country’s foreign debt is $54 billion and the total debt to GDP ratio is 55 per cent. He urged the people to pay taxes to meet the expenses.