NAB chief warns of capital flight as 25,000 Pakistanis shift funds abroad for foreign citizenship

National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman, retired Lieutenant Gen Nazir Ahmed Butt, has warned that approximately 25,000 individuals may have shifted significant capital abroad to acquire citizenship through investment.

NAB Chairman, while speaking at the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) on Wednesday, underscored the need to curb both brain drain and capital flight to retain Pakistan’s human and financial resources.

An analysis by Pulse Consultants, An Overview of Pakistani Emigration Patterns (2008-2024), based on data from the Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment, found that around 10 million Pakistanis have moved abroad in search of work since 2008. These Pakistanis working overseas contributed a significant $30.251 million in remittances in the fiscal year 2023-24.

Of these, approximately 2.389 million moved abroad during the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) era from 2008 to 2013. According to the analysis, a whopping 3.54 million people moved abroad during the time of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government from 2013 to 2018.

Another 1.75 million Pakistanis left the country under Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) aborted tenure from 2018 to 2022. The incumbent Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) government, however, has seen nearly the same figure, 1.67 million, leave in just the past two years, from 2022 to 2024.

NAB Chairman maintained that if the nation focused on growth, the country had the potential to become a trillion-dollar economy within the next six to seven years, according to the KCCI’s press release.

He asserted that rice exports alone had reached $3.8 billion, while total agricultural exports touched $9 billion. Pakistan had shifted from an agriculture-import-driven economy to an export-driven one, a positive trend that should be leveraged, he added.

He also emphasised that Pakistan must focus on improving its competitiveness rather than relying on trade agreements such as the European Union’s GSP+ preferential tariff scheme.

NAB Chairman further reiterated NAB’s commitment to creating a fair business environment and discouraging harassment by government departments.

Meanwhile, Businessmen Group (BMG) Chairman Zubair Motiwala said Pakistan’s IT sector had the potential to reach $30 billion in exports, but this potential was being undermined due to harassment by numerous departments.