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Remittances sent by overseas Pakistanis back home fall slightly

ISLAMABAD, January 30 (Internews): Non-resident Pakistanis sent less

money back home in the last six months of 1999 than in the corresponding

period of the preceding year, latest official figures show.

Remittances between July-December 1999 stood at $432m against $488m in

the same period in 1998 and seems to reflect the continuing

no-confidence of overseas Pakistanis in the governments in Islamabad.

There have been two governments in the July-December 1999 period ñ that

of Nawaz Sharif and that of General Pervez Musharraf who staged a

military coup in October.

The Sharif government had fixed the full year target for remittances at

$1.30bn against an inflow of $1.32bn last year.

Foreign direct investment during the first six months of 1999 at $222m

recorded a slight increase over the $197m in the corresponding in 1998.

There was an outflow of portfolio investment to the tune of $28m in the

last six months.

The overall monetary expansion (M2) remained at 3 percent in the first

six months of 1999 against 4.6 percent in the same period in the

preceding year and the full year target of 9.5 percent.---Internews