Remittances from overseas Pakistani workers exceeded $2 billion for the 14th month in a row in July 2021, according to State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
The central bank in a tweet said, “…they were higher than Jun and slightly lower, by $57mn, than Jul20, despite fewer working days due to Eid. This is the 2nd highest level ever observed in Jul”.
Saudi Arabia remained the main source of Pakistan’s remittance as $640 million dollar were sent by expats working in the Kingdom. However, remittance from United Arab Emirates and UK were recorded at $530 million and $392 million respectively.
Remittances sent by overseas Pakistanis registered a substantial 27 percent growth in the outgoing fiscal year 202-21 over the last year, the fastest rate of expansion since FY2003.
The remittances, according to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), have helped boost the country’s currency reserves and made it able to make international payments for imports and debt repayments.
“On a cumulative basis, remittances rose to a historic annual high of $29.4 billion in FY21. This has helped improve the country’s external sector position despite the challenging global economic conditions in the past year,” said the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
Read more: https://pakobserver.net/pm-orders-more-incentives-for-expats-to-attract-maximum-remittances/
As per the latest report shared by the central bank on Thursday, Total liquid foreign reserves held by the country stood at $24.41 billion.
The remittances received in FY21 were up by a massive 27% Year-on-Year basis compared to $23.13 billion in FY20.
During the year, monthly average remained well above $2 billion, another historic record.
The major chunk of the remittances received from Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and United Kingdom as amount received from these three countries contributed about 61% in total remittances.
Read more: https://pakobserver.net/remittances-exceed-2b-for-12th-straight-month/
As for the growth in remittances is concerned, the USA and the UK showed growth of 58% YoY basis respectively, followed by European Union countries with 52% growth in remittances during this year.
The inflow of remittances surged by 9% in June 2021 month-on-month basis when these were recorded at $2.69 million, showing a visible increase in remittances from all the major countries, such as GCC countries, Saudi Arabia, UAE, and the US.
This massive growth in remittances can be attributed to the regulatory measures introduced by the SBP such as incentives on sending receipts through the formal banking channels.
