War dries up unofficial dollar inflows

• Small exporters, manufacturers hit as inflows through hundi, hawala shrink sharply • Crypto investments divert billions of dollars from local market KARACHI: The country’s unaccounted foreign exchange inflows through the hundi and hawala network have declined sharply as the prolonged Gulf war disrupted Dubai’s informal trading business, hurting small exporters and domestic manufacturers. Sources in the financial sector said that hundreds of flights every year carried people with goods not registered in the official export lists to Dubai. These people are commonly known as “khapiya”. The Gulf war, which lasted about five months, crippled this business and also dealt a blow to the domestic…