The traders have asked Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, who is scheduled to visit Riyadh on invitation of Saudi Arabia government, to convince the Kingdom for withdrawal of the recently announced tax on Pakistani workers' income.
All Pakistan Anjuman-e-Tajiran Central General Secretary Naeem Mir, in a statement on Monday, said that Saudi Arabia, on behalf of the United States, is pushing Islamabad to abandon its plan for importing natural gas from Iran.
He urged the FM, instead of bowing to pressure, keeps the public concern (national interest) at priority, besides raising voice against the impact of said taxation on remittances from this country. He also urged the PML-N chief Mian Nawaz Sharif to use his personal relations with Saudi government for withdrawal of tax on remittances. He said that Saudi Arabia is the largest market for overseas employment for Pakistanis and country's remittances have been quite robust so far and proved to be prime supporter in helping Pakistan to maintain its current account balance in check. He said that changing paradigm in the Saudi Arabia's tax regime is likely to negatively impact inflows towards Pakistan. There are more than 1.5 million Pakistanis in Saudi Arabia and the number is consistently increasing, he added.
Naeem Mir said that Pakistanis in Saudi Arabia earn around SR 2,500 per month and under the new tax regime are more likely to have 10 percent negative impact on their earnings which resultantly will hurt their ability to remit funds. He said that during FY13, estimated decline in the amount to be remitted from Saudi Arabia settles at $184 million. While for FY14, the remittance figure is seem to trim down by $370 million.