Govt cracks down on illegal remittance channels, says Finance Minister

March 18, 2025 (MLN): Regarding the steps taken by the government regarding remittances, a crackdown has been done on the two numbers that are being done, including transactions and hawala hundi, said Finance Minister Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb during the National Assembly session.

The National Assembly was chaired by Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan.

In 2023, the caretaker government had cracked down on hawala hundi and illegal transactions, he added.

The current government, together with the State Bank of Pakistan, has taken forward the same policy, according to the press release issued.

Under this policy, exchange companies have also been brought under one rule, he further noted.

The State Bank of Pakistan has increased the capital of exchange companies so that only authorized companies can do business.

Ten banks have been instructed to set up exchange counters. After these steps, the business of hundi hawala has decreased considerably.

Now the money that comes in comes through formal channels. In 2023-24, remittances from overseas Pakistanis were $30.02 billion.

In the first 9 months of the current fiscal year, remittances have increased and are likely to range between $35 to $36bn in FY25.

This increase is the result of this same policy and steps of the government, creating facilities for overseas Pakistanis.

There is no proposal under consideration for revising the pay scales or significantly increasing the salaries and allowances of federal government employees in the next fiscal year, the finance minister said.

During the question hour in the meeting, the Finance Minister gave answers and also took the House into confidence on the attention-grabbing notice related to tax digitalization in Pakistan.

Regarding the tenancy ceiling, he said that after receiving the revised market survey from the Ministry of Housing and Works, the issue of increasing the rent limit for availing the services of privately owned residential houses is under consideration.

Finance Minister stated in the National Assembly that the government is implementing reforms in the FBR to bring in capable people and simplify processes.

The aim of these reforms is to restore public trust in the tax authority. He clarified that McKinsey was selected through a transparent procedure, where seven companies applied and were reviewed conventionally.

The government is not bearing any expenses for hiring McKinsey, as the Melinda Gates Foundation is fully funding the process. McKinsey will oversee the design and implementation of the tax digitalization process, working alongside Nadra and PRAL.

Commerce Minister Jam Kamal informed about the details of imported sugar in the first year of the current government during the National Assembly session.

From March 2024 to January 2025, Pakistan imported 3,140 metric tons of sugar, spending over 3 million dollars on these imports. The sugar was imported from Malaysia, Germany, Thailand, UAE, USA, UK, Denmark, China, France, Switzerland, and South Korea.

He also revealed that Pakistan imported 50,000 tons of sugar from India.

In a written reply to the National Assembly session, the Ministry of Finance presented details of foreign debts and liabilities during the last five years in the National Assembly, stating that as of June 2023, Pakistan’s total foreign debts and liabilities were $126,141 million.

This foreign debt is 43.03% of GDP. In the fiscal year 2024, Pakistan repaid $11,475m in foreign debt.

In its reply regarding unemployment in the country, the Ministry of Planning and Development said that no survey has been conducted after 2021 to determine the actual number of unemployed people.

According to the 2021 survey, the unemployment rate is 6.3%. The number of unemployed people in the country was 4.5m in 2021, and the employed workforce is 67.2m people.

The meeting unanimously approved a resolution to allocate the National Assembly Hall for national security briefings.

The resolution was presented by Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Tariq Fazal Chaudhry.

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