Remittances Exceed $2 billion For The Sixth Consecutive Month

KARACHI: Remittances in the country for the sixth consecutive month in November stood at more than $2 billion.

According to the data released by the State Bank of Pakistan, remittances in November on a monthly basis increased by 2.4% to $2.34 billion as compared to October.

However, in the first five months of the current financial year, the growth was 27% compared to the same period of the previous financial year.

The SBP said that during July-November of FY21, workers’ remittances reached an extraordinary level of  $11.77 billion, up 26.9 per cent from the same period last year.

Pakistan is heavily dependent on remittance inflows, as measured by the SBP’s total foreign exchange reserves, which stood at  $13.298 billion last week, which was only  $1.5 billion more than the total remittances received in five months. ۔

Another key trend in remittances identified by the central bank was the average workers’ remittances, which stood at about half a billion ($499 million) per month in FY21 compared to the same period last year.

Earlier, the SBP in its annual report had warned the government of the possibility of large-scale repatriation of Pakistanis from Arab states abroad and said it would formulate a comprehensive plan to rehabilitate these millions of Pakistanis in the country.

The bank said it was the result of a drop in oil revenues from immigrant Gulf economies as global demand was affected by COVID-19, adding that political turmoil in the Middle East could also reduce the flow of workers from Pakistan to those countries.

According to the State Bank of Pakistan, workers’ remittances in November were 28.4% higher than the same month last year.

The highest remittances during the five months were from Saudi Arabia, which rose 28.2 per cent to  $3.33 billion, and remittances from the United States and the United Kingdom rose 52 per cent to  $1 billion, respectively. And 53.7% to $1.55 billion.

However, the second-largest flow was from the United Arab Emirates, which rose 7.6 per cent to 44 2.44 billion.

Remittances from the GCC rose 8.5 per cent to 33 1.333 billion in five months, more than the European Union, and rose 37.3 per cent to 1.24 billion dollars.