$5 billion being transferred to Dubai illegally every month

ISLAMABAD (PPI) - Pakistan Economy Watch (PEW) on Monday said that flight of capital from Pakistan is on the rise and around five billion dollars are illegally transferred to Dubai for investment in the realty business every month.

This transfer of huge funds is one of the reasons behind sluggish growth which is due to the political uncertainty since November 2007.

Pakistani banks have left with only three billion dollars deposited by account holders.

Speaking at a meeting, Dr. Murtaza Mughal, President of Pakistan Economy Watch said that estimates suggest some one trillion and 88 billion dollars have been invested in real estate business in Dubai so far. The bonanza has resulted in misbalancing demand-supply mechanism which has resulted in a drop by 5-6 percent in the prices. The prices of property in Dubai may drop further.

He said that out of 30,000 gigantic construction machines across the globe, some 24 percent are working in Dubai. Abu Dhabi is also flexing muscles to become part of the game. On the other hand the real estate business in slipping in Qatar, says a press release.