Abu Dhabi: Trade relations between the UAE and Pakistan are expected to grow 10-15 per cent over the next five years, with falling oil prices set to boost the growth, according to Asif Durrani, Pakistan’s ambassador to the UAE.
“Oil prices should bring down the production costs, so costs like transportation should go down, and that should help businesses…The UAE and Pakistan have trade relations in all fields; infrastructure, communications, fruits and vegetables, light and engineering, [among others],” Durrani told Gulf News.
UAE is currently Pakistan’s largest trading partner in the GCC, with bilateral trade between both countries reaching $9 billion (Dh33 billion) in 2014, accounting for almost half of the $20 billion traded between all GCC countries and Pakistan.
The ambassador was speaking on Thursday on the sidelines of a press conference by Transfast to launch mobile and online money transfer to nine banks in Pakistan.
The electronic services have been launched in North America, and are set to be available to GCC consumers soon. The service allows consumers to transfer money to Pakistan via a mobile app or a website, and is expected to benefit the 1.8-2 million Pakistanis living in the UAE.
Transfast, an international money transfer company based in New York, said the launch was in line with global trends of reduced appetite for face-to-face money transfer.
The company already has partnerships with exchange houses in the UAE, and plans to expand its network by entering new markets including Myanmar, and Vietnam. Transfast also plans on expanding in Africa where it already has operations in certain countries.
In 2014, remittances from the UAE to Pakistan stood at $3.2 billion, marking a 10 per cent increase on the year before, and Durrani believes the figure can be doubled, if not tripled, if people use banking channels rather than Hawala.
A total of $582 billion were sent to Pakistan in 2014 as remittances from around the world, with the figure expected to grow at a five per cent rate in the next three years, according to the World Bank. Remittances represent 6.2 per cent of Pakistan’s gross domestic product.