Hawala system and the quake :: Khaleej Times

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DUBAI — The sudden demand for relief goods being purchased here by payment in cash for the earthquake victims in Pakistan has created a shortage of dirham in the currency market, causing operational problems for the hawala dealers who transfer money to Pakistan, specially to the remote areas through non-banking channels.

Foreign exchange dealers and remittance houses told Khaleej Times yesterday that due to shortage of dirhams, remitting money through hawala had become not much attractive than transferring funds through official banking channels.

The hawala rate yesterday was Pak Rs16.25 per dirham for remote areas of Pakistan and 16.40 for the cities, not much higher than the rate of Rs16.22 for one dirham if a person is willing to remit the money through official channels.

The UAE Exchange Centre LLC, one of the leading foreign exchange and funds transfer /remittances companies, has set up free remittance facility for Pakistanis sending money by using Express Money Product to Pakistan.

According to Sudhir Kumar Shetty, chief operating officer, global operations and general manager of UAE Exchange said: “We are witnessing a growth of 40 per cent for the last few days in the remittance facility to Pakistan. All transactions can be done through express money transactions to Muslim Commercial banks for easy and fast transactions."