LAHORE: Remittances can easily reach $40 billion to $50 billion in the next few years if the government announces incentives on the investment made by expatriate Pakistanis.

`Overseas Pakistanis have sent remittances amounting to $4.69 billion in the first quarter of the ongoing ñscal year that is a good omen,` said Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) president Ijaz A. Mumtaz, senior vice-president Mian Nauman Kabir and vice-president Syed Mahmood Ghaznavi in a joint statement here on Thursday.

They said the government should take measures to ensure that theseremittances were invested in productive sectors like energy, agriculture, telecommunications and information technology instead of wasting them in consumption.

They urged the government to get removed all bureaucratic hurdles coming in the way of smooth inflow of foreign remittances to Pakistan.

`A large number of overseas Pakistanis are keen to invest in Pakistan but red-tapism is keeping them away. The government should discourage the Hawala system as annually billions of dollars are being sent through this illegal way.

At a time when the country is experiencing various economic challenges, increase in home remittances will provide much-needed support to the externalsector oftheeconomy,` they said and added that it was also an encouraging fact that the increase in remittances was not confined to a country or a region but has originated from almost all countries, suggesting the onset of a positive trend.

The statement said the increase in home remittances would help greatly in narrowing down current account deficit of the country, building foreignexchangereserves,bringingstability to the exchange rate of the rupee, softening inflationary pressures and reducing borrowing from the IMF and other sources.

Being an unrequited transfer, it would also not increase foreign indebtedness of the country but pave the way for a self-reliant economy, it said.