Pakistan expatriates to be given help hotline in coming weeks

ABU DHABI // A new hotline for Pakistanis seeking help in the UAE will be launched in the next few weeks, the Pakistan ambassador to the Emirates said yesterday.

Jamil Ahmed Khan made the announcement on the sidelines of a seminar last night aimed to educate more than 50 students on international policies.

He said the hotline should start up in the "coming weeks, rather than months".

He was commenting after a student asked how the embassy was helping the Pakistani community, particularly the large number of labourers and taxi drivers. When he said this was possible and asked for volunteers to help in monitoring phones, three members of the audience said they would help.

The ambassador also called on the students to send as much money as possible back home to help the country out of debt.

Pakistan is close to US$80 billion (Dh294bn) in debt, a figure that has risen from the $63bn figure set two months ago due to inflation, he said.

"My generation had a problem, that we don't do our work properly and [we expect] others to do it," he said. "So for four hours on TV talk shows, we are blaming each other. So instead of blaming, we should see what we can contribute. Three volunteered here for the helpline. This is the future of the country."

He said that if the students each sent $10 to a "sister or a cousin", the money would add up to a billion dollars.

"They get chocolate and are very happy, and Pakistan gets the foreign exchange," he said.

He said anyone sending more than $15,000 in a year would be given a certificate by the embassy and be congratulated. He said their target for this year was to reach $3bn of remittance.

During the seminar, the university students were taught in basic terms about peace treaties and security, the United Nations, Nato, the Peninsula Shield and America's relationship with Israel.

He told them that political oppression led to security problems and conflict, adding that this drove the Arab Spring. He added they were "lucky" that in Pakistan they had freedom of speech.

"Anyone can go on television and say whatever they want to," he said. "This takes the steam out of a person. If a student at university is stopped from expressing themselves, they will explode."

He said he planned more seminars to bring the Pakistani community closer, adding this was the first initiative held in any embassy from around the world.

[ osalem@thenational.ae ]

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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Tax authority targets shisha levy evasion

The Federal Tax Authority will track shisha imports with electronic markers to protect customers and ensure levies have been paid.

Khalid Ali Al Bustani, director of the tax authority, on Sunday said the move is to "prevent tax evasion and support the authority’s tax collection efforts".

The scheme’s first phase, which came into effect on 1st January, 2019, covers all types of imported and domestically produced and distributed cigarettes. As of May 1, importing any type of cigarettes without the digital marks will be prohibited.

He said the latest phase will see imported and locally produced shisha tobacco tracked by the final quarter of this year.

"The FTA also maintains ongoing communication with concerned companies, to help them adapt their systems to meet our requirements and coordinate between all parties involved," he said.

As with cigarettes, shisha was hit with a 100 per cent tax in October 2017, though manufacturers and cafes absorbed some of the costs to prevent prices doubling.