Pakistani Money In Swiss Banks Reduced By 50 Per Cent

Pakistani Money In Swiss Banks Reduced By 50 Per Cent
Switzerland has always been a Pakistani favourite for accumulating their wealth away from home in Swiss Banks. But a recent report indicated that the amount has decreased by 50% to the lowest level of $377 million last year.

The central bank, Swiss National bank in its annual report for international banking statistics revealed that the two tax amnesty schemes by former premier Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Prime Minister Imran Khan have allowed almost 200 richest Pakistanis to whiten their black money despite being caught in an exchange of information by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), as reported by Express Tribune.

The administrative structure from the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) that is inherently lacking on an organised system is also what keeps them from making use of the information shared by the OECD.

Pakistani accounts at the Swiss bank stood at CHF (Swiss franc) 359.6 million or $377 million in 2019, according to the annual report. It was down by CHF 365.6 million or 53% when compared with CHF 725.2 million in 2018.

The amount of Pakistani funds has remarkably decreased after 2015 when it was accounted for a massive $1.5 billion.

After a revised taxation treaty that was signed between Pakistan and Switzerland in 2015, clients have been withdrawing money which has caused a reduction of 75% or CHF 1.2 billion in deposits.

Furthermore, the funds that were regulated through wealth managers of Pakistan have increased by 152 per cent to CHF 50.5 million — a net addition of CHF 30.5 million over 2019.

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