‘Govt wants to make Overseas Pakistanis a key stake holder’

Special Assistant to Prime Minister for Overseas Pakistan and Human Resources Zulfi Bukhari has said that government is giving the Pakistani overseas community a great opportunity to invest in the country.

According to the details, in a recent statement, Special Assistant to Prime Minister for Overseas Pakistan and Human Resources Zulfi Bukhari said the Pakistan Tehreek e Inshaf (PTI) led government has decided to provide a digital banking facility to overseas Pakistanis.

He said that the overseas Pakistanis will now be able to make direct banking payments and investments in the country.

Special Assistant to Prime Minister for Overseas Pakistan and Human Resources Zulfi Bukhari said that the government wants to make the Overseas Pakistani community a key stakeholder in the country’s development

Bukhari was of the opinion that the digital banking facility was a long-standing demand of overseas Pakistanis.

Bukhari added that this plan has been prepared according to the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Earlier The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) introduced a new mechanism to enable the companies to make instant payments for acquiring digital services from globally recognized providers without any hassle.

This move may help add to the ease of doing business in Pakistan.

“Now local companies can access various services including advertising, hosting, database access, accounting management, skill development and customer support etc, from these global companies instantaneously without any regulatory approval process,” the central bank said in a statement.

“This facilitation will increase their outreach to wider customer base locally and abroad, which would help them increase their footprint, productivity and achieve greater efficiency.”

Now, banks have general permission to release foreign exchange up to a maximum of $200,000/year for each local company on account of digital services, primarily in favour of 62 digital service providing companies (including their affiliates or associated entities), listed in the circular on SBP’s website.

However, within this limit, authorised dealers were allowed to release foreign exchange up to a maximum of $25,000 per annum to digital service providers not included in the list, the central bank said.