ISLAMABAD – Dr Farrukh Saleem, an economy and financial analyst has saidthat $4.9 billion were transfered from Pakistan to India and that hisconviction is based on the World Bank’s report.
Dr Farrukh Saleem claims that since the figure is mentioned in WB’sMigration and Remittances Factbook 2016, he believes it’s genuine.
However, in its clarification issued on the same day when the NationalAccountability Bureau (NAB) announced to probe the matter, the WB itselfadmitted that the figure of $4.9 billion is just an estimate based onvarious assumptions quoting a statement by the SBP.
“The figure of remittances from Pakistan to India, during the years 2010,2011 and 2012 stood at zero. The figure of remittances from Pakistan toIndia during the years 2013, 2014 and 2015 stood at $4.669 billion, $4.794billion and $4.693 billion, respectively,” he tweeted after the WBclarification.
Dr Farrukh insisted that there was nothing wrong with the claim thatbillions of dollars were sent to India from Pakistan.
Dr Farrukh however clarified that the World Bank neither mentioned moneylaundering allegations nor the name of Nawaz Sharif in its report andaccording to him this was the only mistake in the NAB’s press release.
When asked on Thursday whether he still believes that $4.9 billion could betransferred from Pakistan to India, he said: “There is no question of mybelief or opinion. You need to read the World Bank Factbook which clearlystates that money was sent to India. It gives three figures $4.669 billion,$4.794 billion and $4.693 billion for the year 2013, 2014 and 2015.”
When he was informed that the World Bank estimates were made based onvarious assumptions, Dr Farrukh said the Factbook does not mentionassumptions anywhere.
“The book mentions source of data which is IMF balance of paymentsstatistics database (2015),” he said.
Dr Farrukh also quoted the World Bank to defend the data’s validity:“Caveats on the Quality of Data: The Factbook has arguably the mostcomprehensive collection of data and facts on migration and remittancesthat are available.”