Govt Receives Shockingly Poor Response for Hajj Sponsorship Scheme

The Federal Government has received just 6,500 applications against 44,500 seats, under the Hajj Sponsorship Scheme.

Sources told ProPakistani that the government increased the expenditure for Hajj by 36 percent compared to last year, mainly due to the depreciation of the Pakistani Rupee against the US dollar.

The Saudi authorities have allocated a Hajj quota of 179,210 to Pakistan for the year 2023. However, due to severe economic constraints, the government cannot afford to allow a massive capital flight.

According to the Hajj Policy, the allocated quota shall be distributed between the Government and Private Hajj Schemes at a ratio of 50 percent each.

Out of the Government and Private Hajj Schemes, a quota of 50 percent each shall be reserved for the Sponsorship Scheme.

Under the Sponsorship Scheme, applicants will be required to deposit their Hajj dues in foreign exchange remitted from abroad and will not be allowed to deposit the Hajj dues from foreign currency accounts in Pakistan.

Owing to economic constraints, the government had decided to incorporate a “Sponsorship Scheme” for giving half of the Hajj quota of its citizens to Pakistanis living abroad.

According to the draft of the Hajj Policy, the Government Hajj quota is expected to generate about $194 million, and the Private Hajj Scheme is expected to generate more than $250 million, depending on the cost of various packages and the number of applications received.

Keeping that in mind, the government has decided that half of the quota, or 89,605, would be offered to non-resident Pakistanis. The non-resident Pakistanis could either avail of the quota themselves or sponsor someone from Pakistan, an official told ProPakistani.

Officials estimated that around $440 million could be saved by offering half of the quota to non-resident Pakistanis.

For the year 2023, the tentative Hajj Package for the North region (Multan, Lahore, Sialkot, Islamabad Rahim Yar Khan, Faisalabad, and Peshawar) is Rs. 1,165,000/ and for the South Region (Karachi, Sukkur and Quetta) is Rs. 1,125,000/.

The cost of Hajj per Haji was around Rs. 860,000 during the last year. Data shows that the cost of Hajj for Pakistani nationals surged by around 36 percent during the last year due to the free fall of the local currency against the US Dollar.

Sources added that the government has received around 72,000 applications from locals and around 6,500 from abroad during the given time. The government was expecting 44,500 applications for the New Hajj Sponsor Scheme under the government scheme.

Instead of the expectation, the government received only 6,500 applications.

The Hajj Sponsorship Scheme, which was launched for overseas Pakistanis, completely failed to achieve its objectives as overseas Pakistanis did not show interest in the scheme. The government had a target of 89,000 applicants, but it also failed to reach the target.

The government could only receive less than 80,000 applications through both regular and sponsorship schemes, which is around 10,000 less than the target. Due to the low number of applicants, the government has to surrender the Hajj quota.

It is the first time that the government could not utilize its Hajj quota due to the economic crisis in the country.

The foreign exchange cover required for this year’s Government Hajj Scheme was $284 million. The matching Rupee cover against this allocation shall be provided from the Pilgrims Welfare Fund (PWF) Hajj collection account of the Ministry.

If the full quota of the Government Sponsorship Scheme was utilized, then its dues will amount to $194 million as the intending pilgrims of the sponsorship Scheme will deposit total Hajj dues including airfare and service charges in foreign exchange. In that case, $90 million (284-194) will be required from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) according to the draft of the scheme.

The Sponsorship Scheme of the Government Hajj quota was on a first come first served basis. But with the least interest from overseas, the first come and first come formula could not be applied.