Pakistan approves Hajj policy 2023

ISLAMABAD – The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet has approved the Hajj Policy for 2023.

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar made the announcement on Twitter after he chaired a meeting of the ECC to approve the policy. The minister agreed to provide foreign exchange cover of $90 million.

As per policy Hajj quota allocated to Pakistan for the year 2023 is 179,210, which shall be distributed between the government and private Hajj schemes at a ratio of 50:50.

Out of the government and private Hajj Schemes, a quota of 50% each shall be reserved for sponsorship scheme.

For the year 2023, tentative Hajj Package for Northern region is Rs1,175,000 and for the South Region is Rs1,165,000.

Last week, Ishaq Dar held a meeting with Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Mufti Abdul Shakoor and assured him of providing max facilitation to the pilgrims in order to make Hajj event blessed and peaceful.

Earlier, the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) on Saturday announced its flight operation for this year’s Hajj will commence from May 21 and conclude on August 2.

A PIA spokesperson said the national carrier will use Boeing-777 and Airbus A-320 for flights to Jeddah and Madinah from different cities of Pakistan during the Hajj operation.

The PIA also decided to continue its previous year’s policy of charging airfare in US dollars from pilgrims going to Saudi Arabia under private Hajj scheme.

The airfare for pilgrims from the Southern region and Northern region will be in the range of $870 to $1,180 and $910 to $1,220, respectively.

The spokesperson said the final airfare for pilgrims going to perform Hajj under government scheme would be announced by the Ministry of Religious Affairs. The fare is likely to be in the range of Rs310,000 to Rs330,000, reports said, adding that the overall cost of hajj is  expected to surge to Rs1.25 million this year.