Kaja Borchgrevink and Marta Bivand Erdal gave a seminar on 'The Pakistani diaspora in Norway', at the Lahore School of Economics, Centre on International Migration, Remittances and Diaspora (CIMRAD), Monday 5 March 2018.
With economic growth picking up, the Pakistani diaspora is contributing significantly to investments in the current real estate development boom. Thus further underscoring the deep interconnections between migration and development in Pakistan, in a long-term perspective. Emigration from Pakistan involves 4% of the population, in absolute terms one of the larger migrant groups globally, with remittances at 6% of Pakistani GDP. In a context where less than a quarter of the population is banked, financial inclusion is high on the agenda, reflective of the Sustainable Development Goals. In Pakistan, Islamic models of finance and banking are gaining traction, whether in microfinance or mainstream banking; trends which diasporas are not ignorant of.
