Different ways for Pakistan to boost dollar earnings

Writing for Tribune author AAH Soomro cites plenty of deep-rooted problems in Pakistan that are becoming more and more exposed with each passing day. Among these issues, the most pressing is the country’s inability to earn enough dollars to pay for its import bills. This problem has been persistent for years and has only worsened with time.

Despite these challenges, there are solutions that can be implemented to attract dollars and mitigate the country’s financial crisis. Murtaza Syed, a former deputy governor of the State Bank of Pakistan, has been contributing his insights to help the masses understand the situation and encourage policymakers to take action. One key point that he highlights is the need to delineate the issue of “spending beyond means” and focus on how to “earn as per means.”

One of the solutions is the Naya Pakistan Certificate (NPC), which offers returns on both PKR and USD instruments. However, there has been an inordinate delay in revising the returns offered on these instruments. While domestic T-bill yields are at an all-time high, rupee NPCs still yield a paltry 15% for a year. It is crucial to link the NPC rates to the monetary policy rate and re-price them immediately to make them more attractive to investors. Similarly, the dollar-yielding NPC rates need to be revised to optimize them in conjunction with the current global market dynamics.

Another solution is the Loyalty Remittance Card program, which rewards Pakistanis who spend a certain amount of money back home via remittances with credits. The program offers tax credits on incremental inflows, along with concrete benefits. Instead of just offering VIP queues at airports and NADRA offices, a more comprehensive plan is needed to lure overseas Pakistanis to put their money back into the country. The program aims to use Pakistan for their banking needs and make it easier for them to borrow from the country.

In addition, remittances received by each council, district, and tehsil should be reinvested for the betterment of the local area in terms of infrastructure, economic zoning, education, and healthcare. The masses should visibly see the impact of their work benefiting their immediate family and the community at large.

Pakistan should also establish Overseas Pakistanis Justice Courts to hear legitimate legal cases of overseas Pakistanis pertaining to civil and criminal matters with a time-bound trial to be concluded. Attorneys and judges should be monetarily incentivized further to address the grievances with digital e-courts, saving precious dollars of people residing abroad who find it difficult to secure holidays to come back and rot within our inefficient judicial system.

The government should also focus on boosting IT exports. Relentless efforts are needed by all government departments to grow IT exports. Pakistan’s educational system is not producing enough good-quality IT graduates with exportable skills. To carry the burden of 240 million people, it is vital that hundreds of thousands of graduates are produced each year by top-tier IT institutes and hired by global or domestic IT giants to integrate with the global workforce by remaining competitive and efficient. IT schools deserve much more tax credits and subsidized loans than inefficient textile giants. Each student with a globally certified skillset should get cashback, and so should the teaching body training these young minds. A dedicated comprehensive webpage needs to be developed where the entire Pakistan can showcase their skill set similar to Fiverr, Upwork, and other websites. Pakistan should also work on bringing PayPal to the country to facilitate online payments.

To read the full article visit www.tribune.com.pk