Staff Reporter Islamabad
Prime Minister Imran Khan has directed the relevant ministries to consider extending more incentives to overseas Pakistanis to attract maximum remittances.
Chairing a follow-up meeting on Friday regarding facilitating overseas Pakistanis, particularly to ease and incentivise home remittances through legal channels, the prime minister said that overseas Paki-stanis are a precious asset of the country.
He said that the remittances sent by overseas Paki-stanis have an important role in the country’s eco-nomic stability.
He said that the government is de-termined to extend full facilitation to overseas Paki-stanis and their families.
He also emphasised the need for evolving a strategy to achieve the targets set for different sectors.
According to data released by the central bank, the remittances sent home by overseas Pakistanis rose 33.5 percent to $2.5 billion in May on a year-on-year basis.
On a cumulative basis, the remittances surged to $26.7 billion during July-May FY21, higher by 29.4 percent compared to the same period of the last year.
“Remittances in the first 11 months of FY21 have already crossed the full FY20 level by $3.6 billion,” the SBP said.
According to the central bank data, Pakistanis in Saudi Arabia sent home $7 billion during July-May of fiscal year 2020-21 compared to $5.86 billion in the same period of last year, an increase of 19.5%.
Imran Khan has commended the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for achieving historic level of tax revenues of Rs4,732 billion during the recently concluded fiscal year 2020-21.
In a tweet on Friday, the prime minister said, “I commend efforts of FBR in achieving historic level of tax revenues of Rs4732 bn in 2020-21 – exceed-ing target of Rs 4691 bn & 18% higher than last year.”
He further said that the tax body’s performance is a testament to the ‘strong economic revival spurred by (PTI) government’s policies’.
