Discouraging money laundering can make country self reliant

Islamabad : Islamabad Chamber of Small Traders on Saturday said discouraging hundi and money laundering or reducing corruption in public procurement could make Pakistan a self-reliant country.

Improvement in any of these sectors will not only help the government to overcome deficit but will enable it to retire the entire foreign and domestic debt, it said. Expatriates send around twenty billion dollars yearly through legal channels while the same amount of money is sent through hundi.

Making banking channel efficient and economical can help government end the hundi business which will help it raise an additional $20 billion annually, said Patron Islamabad Chamber of Small Traders Shahid Rasheed Butt.

He said that a State Department report says that Pakistan loses $10 billion to money laundering per annum. Discouraging money laundering will keep the money in country triggering economic activities, he added.

Shahid Rasheed Butt said that the World Bank has estimated that public procurement amounts to $60 billion in Pakistan. Other estimates suggest that 30 to 60 per cent money out of $60 billion is wasted to mismanagement. If the government can overcome corruption or if it reduces misuse of authority in public procurement sector, it will be enough to settle all the debt in few years that will be beginning of the dream of Prime Minister Imran Khan for Naya Pakistan. These steps will help the government to get itself removed from FATF grey list, he said.