Reliance on such inflows reflects chronic weakness of industrial, agricultural base
Maximum limit per person, per calendar year, to buy foreign currency, in the form of cash or outward remittances, will also be reduced from $100,000 to $50,000. photo: file
The strong rupee is luring imports, impacting domestic industry competitiveness and hurting exports. For the past three years, the government has been celebrating rising home remittances as its politico-economic success that has helped stabilise the rupee and achieve a current account surplus, but has buried its head in the sand instead of fixing structural weaknesses in manufacturing, agriculture and exports.
Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb and PM Shehbaz Sharif have repeatedly announced structural economic reforms but on the ground there is hardly any progress. Now, an amazing proposal is being touted – taking two loans worth $1 billion for enhancing government efficiency and reforms.
Neither remittances nor loans can bring growth as these two sources are nasogastric: remittances – a lifeline, not a growth engine. During the past three fiscal years, Pakistan has received around $96 billion in remittances, more than export earnings, but with no significant growth in industry, agriculture and expor
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