ISLAMABAD, Jan 4: Pakistan received ever highest foreign remittances of $2.389 billion from expatriates during the year 2002, well-informed sources from Overseas Pakistanis Foundation (OPF) told Dawn.

The sources hoped the remittances were likely to increase to over $3 billion by the end of the current financial year. However, in 2001 the total amount of remittances received were $1.022 billion.

They said the remittances sent by the expatriates in the United States also remained ever highest during 2002. The remittances from the US remained 500 per cent higher in the last calendar year.

The sources said the sudden increase in the rate of remittances testified to a sense of insecurity among the expatriates in the United States, forcing them to save their hard-earned money in their own country.

This also reflects the expatriates confidence in the national economy and the government’s foreign currency policy. Their confidence was shattered when the foreign currency accounts were frozen in May 1998, they added.

According to a report of the State Bank of Pakistan, the foreign remittances from the US during 2002 remained $779 million. However, these were $135 million during 2001.

The report revealed that 0remittances from the United States in the year 2000 and 1999 were $80 million and $82 million respectively.

During 2002 the country received $40 million remittances from Bahrain as compared with $24 million in 2001.

Remittances from Qatar were $32 million in the last year. However, they were $13 million in 2001. Remittances from Saudi Arabia were $376 million last year against $304 million in 2001.

Remittances from UAE had gone up to $469 million in 2002. However, they were $190 million in 2001. Last year remittances from the UK remained $152 million against $81 million in 2001.

The sources said the soft and incentive-oriented policies of the government had attracted more remittances to the country. They said the assurance of the government that foreign currency accounts would never be frozen in future had restored the confidence of the expatriates.

Talking to Dawn about Foreign Exchange Remittance Card (FERC) scheme, a joint venture of Overseas Pakistanis Foundation (OPF) and the ministry of finance started from Sept 2001, an official of POF said the scheme encouraged the remittances by overseas Pakistanis through normal banking channels by giving them several incentives.

He said the separate counters at arrival and departure lounges of the international airports in Pakistan have been established for gold and silver FERC holders.

The officials said hundreds of the FERCs had been issued to the overseas Pakistanis. “The scheme has also discouraged the Hundi system to some extent,” he added.

The funds channelled through Hundi or other means deprived the country of much-needed support thus the government initiated a concrete programme to facilitate those non-resident Pakistanis who remit money through normal banking channels, he said.