PM Khan’s housing amnesty scheme major boon for Pak expats

LONDON: A real estate expert and investor has said Prime Minister Imran Khan’s tax amnesty scheme for the realty sector — the second by his government in less than a year, allowing people to invest in the construction sector without disclosing a source of income — is proving to be helpful for the economy as an increasing number of overseas Pakistanis are investing in Pakistan.

According to a press release, Saqib Rafiq Chaudhry, chief executive of Qazi Investments, said immunity from declaring source of income is a popular scheme and overseas Pakistanis have invested in large numbers in recent months to avail the scheme before it expires at the end of December this year.

The investor claimed that Pakistan has seen a rise in remittances in recent months because overseas Pakistanis from all over the world have been investing in the realty sector.

He said: “Overseas Pakistanis, like investors within Pakistan, don’t have to explain their sources of income. I am not saying that the money they are sending is unaccounted for or that black money is being whitened. The government has provided a full legal cover to the investors and overseas Pakistanis are loving it. The rise in investment is visible in recent months as compared to the last two years.”

Chaudhry said overseas Pakistanis could invest more in Pakistan if more action is taken to completely wipe out illegal societies and rogue elements in the industry. “I believe that the challenge for the government was to give confidence to the sector and that goal has been achieved. We used our platform to work towards that aim and we have been quite successful. We have toured around 40 countries of the world to invite small and medium size investors to invest in Pakistan in the housing and construction sector,” said Chaudhry who said he also visited Uganda and met some Pakistanis who were convinced of investing in Pakistan. “It was like taking Pakistan’s flag there,” he said.

Yasir Mahmood, Chairman Qazi Investments agreed that over 90 per cent of overseas Pakistanis invest only in the real estate sector. “There are many opportunities of investment but the safest for them is in the real estate sector. This is the sector that has grown forever and always. The income opportunities are stable and huge through this sector. For example, if someone has to invest in stocks from London then he will have to follow Pakistani stocks on a daily basis and remain awake to follow the trend. That’s like being on your toes round the clock. In the real estate sector, there are no such worries involved. You have to invest and relax. Pakistan is going up and this fact is complemented with the rise in prices of houses and real estate investments,” Mahmood added.

He said: “Parking money in the real estate sector is the safest bet. The Covid-19 pandemic has made everyone realise that the countries they thought were the safest to live and invest were, after all, not that safe and secure.”