OVER the years, overseas Pakistanis have proved to be helpful for the country that relies heavily on their remittances to draw down its current account deficit.
These inflows that touched historic level of $15.8b during first six months of current fiscal year, in fact can be substantially enhanced and multiplied by attracting the investment of well to do expatriates in different sectors of economy.
Imran Khan government deserves applause for launching several products in recent times such as Roshan Digital Account to facilitate overseas Pakistanis.
Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhary Fawad Hussain has now stated that PTI government would soon launch dedicated property projects for overseas Pakistanis to provide them with safe investment opportunities in the country.
He said government has already acquired land in Islamabad for this purpose and is in the process of getting more land in Karachi, Lahore and other major cities.
These overseas Pakistanis are mostly attracted in real estate sector as those living abroad also want to have a permanent abode in their home country.
But there have also been unfortunate incidents where they were deprived either of their cash or land by fraudulent elements.
Hence this government initiative is a step in right direction, as it will give much needed confidence to expatriates to invest in real estate without any worry.
Nonetheless, it must also be ensured that these projects are also completed within the given timeframe as our civic agencies such as CDA does not have a good reputation of completing housing projects.
Hence, we will ask Prime Minister Imran Khan to personally monitor progress on these dedicated housing projects that understandably are aimed at fetching more remittances.
At the same time, there is a need to lure investment of well off expatriates in productive sectors of economy especially industries and information technology.
Their investment in these sectors will have multiplier impact, as apart from bolstering inflows of dollars, new businesses will also help create job opportunities and contribute to economic growth.
Time has come to exploit real potential of expatriates by launching dedicated investment schemes that offer facilitation and various incentives to them.
