ISLAMABAD: More than $7.9 billion has been taken out of the country through foreign currency accounts in the last five years, National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance was informed on Thursday.
\nThe law allows individuals to take dollars out through these accounts whereas special permission is needed to remit money out of the country for investments, the committee was informed by an official of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
\nHe added that individuals were granted permission to bring, hold and take out money under the Protection of Economic Reforms Act 1992.
\nThe description by the official brought in a barrage of queries, prompting the committee chairman to inquire if any foreign currency account holders can buy dollars from the open market and remit it out of the country.
\n\u201cThere are certain barriers in the process but legally the account holder can do so,\u201d Director SBP Irfan Ali said in his reply to the committee.
\nIn response, PTI\u2019s Asad Umar quoted data from Dubai Land Records that Pakistanis hold property worth $6.6bn in the city.\u201cYou have a stringent policy for investing from Pakistan to anywhere abroad but there is no check on individuals to buy property abroad if they hold foreign currency accounts,\u201d Mr Umar said.
\nMeanwhile, possibly sensing the direction of the discussion Mian Abdul Mannan and Muhammad Pervaiz Malik of the PML-N tried to disrupt the briefing by the SBP official and repeatedly said the law was clear and there was no need to talk over the matter.
\nMQM\u2019s Abdul Rashid Godil questioned who was in power in 1992 when the \u2018flawed law\u2019 was made.
\nBefore an official response could be heard, Mr Umar responded: \u201cThe first offshore company was established in 1992 and foreign currency accounts with such immunity was made in 1992 so things are clear.\u201d
\nResponding to a query, the SBP officials informed that in India, the law does not allow resident Indians to hold foreign currency accounts.
\n\u201cThey say that all your dealing in India is in rupee so why do you need a dollar account,\u201d Mr Ali said. To this, Mr Umar quipped, \u201cBecause they do not have Mian League there.\u201d
\nThe committee was also informed that to establish business abroad permission was needed from the SBP if the amount remitted was up to $5 million. If the amount crosses the $5m limit, permission is granted by the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC).
\nIn the last three years, permission has been granted to take out $601m abroad for establishing businesses, the meeting was informed.
\n62,000 apply for youth loan
\nThe committee was informed by the top management of National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) that only 62,000 applications have been received for the PM\u2019s Youth Loan Programme and of these only 15,000 applications have been approved.
\n\u201cDuring the past two and a half years, the National Bank has processed around 8,100 applications and disbursed some Rs7.7bn,\u201d NBP President Syed Iqbal Ashraf said. \u201cWe will hopefully process around 13,500 applications by the end of the year,\u201d he added.
\nMNAs belonging to the ruling party expressed discontent over the slow pace of processing applications and low approval rate.
\nThe committee was briefed by the national Accountability Bureau (NAB) official over the inquiry against NBP\u2019s operation in Bangladesh which caused loss to the bank in shape of loan defaults.
\nNAB is expected to finalise its report and frame charges during the month of September. A request has been forwarded by NAB to place five NBP serving and retired officials on ECL.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISLAMABAD: More than $7.9 billion has been taken out of the country through foreign currency accounts in the last five years, National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance was informed on Thursday. The law allows individuals to take dollars out through these accounts whereas special permission is needed to remit money out of the country for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2258,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business"],"yoast_head":"\n