Workers’ remittances grew by 11.3 per cent to $15.8 billion during the first half of the ongoing fiscal year compared to last year’s same period, data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said. The central bank said inflows clocked in at $2.5 billion in December 2021, continuing “their strong impetus of remaining above $2 billion since June 2020?.
Workers’ remittances increased by 2.5 per cent in December on month-on-month basis and 3.4pc on year-on-year basis. The data showed the inflows from Saudi Arabia clocked in at $626.6 million, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) $453.2 million, the United Kingdom (UK) $340.8 million and the United States (US) $248.5 million.
“Proactive policy measures by the Government and SBP to incentivize the use of formal channels and altruistic transfers to Pakistan amid the pandemic have positively contributed towards the sustained inflows of remittances since last year,” the central bank said in a statement.
The Jul-Nov FY22 data of workers’ remittances has been revised upward to reflect Roshan Digital Accounts (RDA) inflows that are related to payment of utility bills, transfer to local PKR account, etc.
Since data on these conversions was not previously available, these were reported under “other private transfers” in the balance of payments statistics, the SBP said.
