REMITTANCES IMPACT ON SOCIO ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN NWFP, PAKISTAN

Material well being and resource mobilization have assumed importance and priority over many other things. One consequence of this has been a significant number of people migrate from Pakistan to different countries of the world in search of better paid employment. As a result they send remittances to their home country. The aim of the study was to find out the volume and utilization pattern of migrant’s remittances and investment behaviour of these migrants. For this purpose 360 sample households were interviewed in 11 villages of District Swabi, NWFP during the year 2008. The findings of the study show that number of migrants is continuously rising and the foreign remittances are the main stay of the sample households. These remittances are productively utilized and have a positive impact on the sample households as well as on the sample villages as a whole. Increase in income level of beneficiaries has been quite significant. However, initial capital requirements for getting the visa, traveling cost and work permit are beyond the migrants’ financial position. For this purpose the migrants get credit on higher interest rates from informal sources or sell out their fixed assets. As the emigrants are contributing to the development of the rural economy of district Swabi, the study recommends that the government must direct formal credit institutions to allocate some funds for this purpose at comparatively low interest rates so that the intending emigrants may be facilitated. Moreover, the government must provide advisory services to the returned migrants so that they may invest their capital in a productive manner.