Govt to incentivise remitters of NRLP

ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on Wednesday approved the National Remittance Loyalty Programme (NRLP) with a view to incentivize remitters to transfer funds through formal channels thus further strengthening the inflow of remittances.

The meeting of ECC was held under the chair of Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Shaukat Tarin. 

Among others, Federal Minister for Interior Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed, Federal Minister for Privatisation Muhammad Mian Soomro, Federal Minister for Energy Hammad Azhar, Federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar, Advisor to the PM on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood, Advisor to the PM on Institutional Reforms and Austerity Dr Ishrat Hussain, SAPM on Power & Petroleum Tabish Gauhar, SAPM on Finance and Revenue Dr Waqar Masood, Federal Secretaries and other senior officers participated in the meeting. State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor Reza Baqir also participated through a video link.

The secretary Finance while giving a detailed presentation on the NRLP before the committee stated that proactive policy measures by the government and central bank have incentivised the overseas Pakistanis and encouraged them to remit their hard earned money through formal channels.

“This has contributed to achieving record remittance of $29.4 billion in the last fiscal year. It’s a clear reflection of confidence in Pakistan’s economy by overseas Pakistanis,” he added.

In order to continue the positive trajectory of remittances, the SBP will introduce a mobile application, NRLP, which will offer rewards to overseas Pakistani against each remittance transaction in accordance with a set criteria. The above application will be formally launched towards the end of October 2021.

After due deliberations, the ECC approved the structure and estimated financial impact of the NRLP with a view to incentivise remitters to transfer funds through formal channels thus further strengthening the inflow of remittances.

Tarin directed to exercise due diligence before the launch for seamless integration with all service providers to ensure smooth working of NRLP. 

Meanwhile, overseas Pakistanis working around the world sent $2.71 billion last month, which was the second highest level of remittances reported in the month of July, according to the State Bank of Pakistan.

The inflow of remittances continued with over $2bn for the 14th consecutive month.

“In terms of growth, remittances increased by 0.7 per cent over previous month and showed a decline by 2.1pc over the same month last year,” said the SBP.

The central bank said this marginal year-on-year dec­line was largely on account of Eidul Azha, which resulted in fewer working days in July compared to the same month last year.

The previous financial year witnessed record inflow of remittances worth $29.4bn with growth of 27pc which supported the external account of the country.

According to the latest data issued on Tuesday, the inflow from Saudi Arabia fell to $641 million from $821m in the same month of the previous financial year. The inflow from Saudi Arabia was the highest with $7.667bn in FY21 compared to $6.61bn of FY20.

The SBP data showed that the second highest remittances of $530m came from the United Arab Emirates in July FY22 with a decline of 1.4pc compared to the same month of previous financial year. In the entire FY21, the remittances from the UAE grew by 8.9pc to $6.114bn as compared to $5.612bn in FY20.

The inflow from the United States of America showed a growth of 24pc in July while it grew by 82pc in the same month of the last financial year. Pakistan received $312m compared to $251m in the corresponding period of last year.

The inflows from the UK grew by 58.3pc in FY21 against a decline of 24.7pc in the preceding year while the remittances of $4.067bn from that country were the third largest in terms of amount.