With over 10 million Pakistanis having left the country to pursue work abroad since the early 1970s, it comes as no surprise that labour migration from Pakistan is well established. What is interesting is that PM Imran Khan has referred to overseas Pakistanis several times since taking charge. This is not typical of a new leader. This is not strange either. Perhaps, the word I am looking for is innovative. But why?
When a person leaves Pakistan with the ambition to seek employment in another country, s/he is striving for a better quality of life (this does not necessarily mean for them only). This can easily translate into them taking up a job to improve the quality of life of their family members who still reside in Pakistan. I suppose it works both ways. The math is simple: they earn more salaries there than they do in Pakistan and have better working conditions, as opposed to the same amount of work they put in at home. As a result, their quality of life improves.
In this light, overseas Pakistanis wishing to send money back to Pakistan have to channel it through a formal banking system. When they do, the money is received by their families, while also fuelling the economy in the form of an influx of foreign exchange. The State Bank of Pakistan’s Annual Performance Review 2016-17 states that the digitalisation of sending money home through the use of Pakistan Real-time Interbank Settlement Mechanism (PRISM) is making the process more convenient.
Furthermore, according to the World Bank’s Migration and Remittances Report of 2017, Pakistan is the fifth top remittances receiving country in the world. In this regard, the Pakistan Economic Survey of 2016-2017 identifies that remittances contributed by Pakistani labour abroad has had a positive impact on the external account balances in recent years. Home remittances stand as the second direct contributor to Pakistan’s (overall) foreign exchange reserves, coming in just after exports. According to a recent press release issued by the State Bank of Pakistan, overseas Pakistanis remitted $3.9 billion in the first two months of FY19 (an increase of 13.45 percent compared with the same period in FY2018).
In brief, overseas Pakistanis earning outside Pakistan are (indirectly) contributing towards the direct development of Pakistan in the form of sending home remittances. Their contributions, therefore, remain invaluable.
We all know by now that PM Khan and the PTI’s major drive is development coupled with transparency. Khan is not a typical politician. He cannot sell the masses something he was not born with. What he can do is sell an idea which echoes with the masses nonetheless – the idea of making Pakistan sustainable financially, economically and infrastructurally. To this end, the role of overseas Pakistanis is vital for PM Khan and he wishes to do more for them in order to guarantee their investment in Pakistan. Let’s not forget the numbers. Just last year, remittances alone reached an equivalent of $15.6 billion in Pakistan. If that’s not saying much, I don’t know what is. While the vision appears reasonably clear, the lingering question is how PM Khan will ensure investment beyond what is already being invested?
The outcome is to incentivise schemes for overseas Pakistanis so that more opportunities are created. This will require creating a niche of overseas Pakistanis who will qualify as ‘skilled labour’. Emigrating as skilled labour means higher salaries, and higher salaries will mean higher remittances being sent back to Pakistan.
At the moment, the majority of labour leaving the country is either semi to non-skilled labour. A new strategy, therefore, needs to be adopted. For the latter strategy to bear any fruits, two issues need to be addressed. First, strengthen Pakistan’s technical and vocational training institutes. They exist. They are operational. But what are the qualitative measures taken to assess how far the skills being taught are relevant for foreign job markets? This could serve as a primary indicator in strategising how to best utilise home-based talent.
In order to get the ball rolling, PM Khan should consider establishing an ad-hoc task force to oversee and ensure that qualitative skills trainings match the needs of foreign job markets; especially looking at the upcoming opportunities that will emerge from the Dubai-Expo 2020 and the Fifa World Cup to be held in Qatar in 2022. PM Khan has committed to creating 10 million jobs during the course of his leadership. While praise-worthy, this commitment remains ambitious given the present economic crisis Pakistan is facing. In the meanwhile, he must focus on the country’s youth, including Pakistan’s female labour force, and make sure they employ their time learning specific skills. This will not only garner benefits when their skills are applied to foreign markets but will eventually develop a cadre of experts in professional fields in Pakistan.
Second, investment opportunities for overseas Pakistanis need to be developed. Very recently, PM Khan convened a meeting on overseas Pakistanis and tweeted that special incentives for overseas Pakistanis will be announced soon. As part of the same tweet, he also committed to remove hassles that are faced by overseas Pakistanis remitting money to the country. This is an important area and ties in with the Hawala/Hundi systems of transferring money back to Pakistan. These systems do not only hinder with economic development but prevent Pakistan from further bolstering its foreign exchange reserves. It appears that Khan is on top of the issue as amendments in the existing law have been already suggested as part of Khan’s austerity campaign. It is imperative to see these amendments through!
In addition, however, it is also vital to develop innovative ideas which attract the diaspora to invest in their homeland. As a starter, investment opportunities in mega projects with China and Saudi Arabia need to be cultivated so that prominent overseas Pakistanis can consider investing; provided appropriate legal safeguards are in place.
This can be capitalised sooner than later by utilising the role of the 21 Community Welfare Attachés (CWA) based outside Pakistan. By sharing this vision, CWAs will be allowed to engage and identify those members of the diaspora who wish to invest in Pakistan based on their desire to contribute to the homeland. It would also be in Pakistan’s interest to consider re-evaluating the number of CWAs, given that countries such as Canada, which maintains large Pakistani diaspora communities, do not have a CWA.
The timing couldn’t be better for PM Khan. Overseas Pakistanis are already on his agenda. All that is needed is a strategy which makes use of the existing home-based talent and Pakistani diaspora spread across the globe.
The writer is a lawyer based in Vienna. Email: saadurrehman@hotmail.com
