Foreign firms repatriate $56.6m profits

Foreign companies operating in Pakistan have repatriated a notable amount of profit and dividends, totalling $56.6 million, to their headquarters abroad in April 2024. This repatriation continues since the notable improvement in the country’s foreign exchange reserves in recent times. Although the repatriation fell to a three-month low in April, the Secretary General of the Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI), M Abdul Aleem, told The Express Tribune, “OICCI members have continued to send the earned profit without any restrictions…The dip may be a seasonal one.” The dispatches in April, at $56.6 million, are 635% higher compared to the $7.7 million sent in April of the previous year, according to the central bank’s data. Aleem reported, “The government has cleared all the repatriation of profit and dividend up to the (end of) year 2022.” The government is clearing the queue of repatriation dues smoothly. It has probably paid all the dues of the foreign airlines first, he added.