KARACHI: Special Advisor to Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis Zulfi Bukhari inaugurated the Workers Remittance Counter at National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) on Wednesday, which would facilitate overseas Pakistanis to send their earnings home and help government realize target of $21.5 billion worth of remittances.

Overseas Pakistanis will now be able to open an account with NBP from any part of the world and send their earnings home in a legal manner.

Zulfi Bukhari said that State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) had developed this system. Bukhari said that around $20 billion were remitted through legal channels while a substantial amount was remitted through illegal means, which did not serve the country.

He said that government prioritized blue-collar overseas workers, whom were the persons actually contributing to Pakistan’s economy. Government plans to facilitate overseas Pakistani workers to achieve the target of $21.5 billion remittances.

Speaking on the occasion, President NBP Arif Usmani said the Workers  Remittance Counter is setup to bring the flow of remittances in the banking channel, and this would discourage illegal means of money transfer i.e. hawala and hundi.[the_ad id=”31605″]