5MFY16: Pakistan pockets $8b in remittances
Amount increases by 7.6% year-on-year, Saudi Arabia remains largest source
State Bank of Pakistan. PHOTO: EXPRESS
KARACHI:
Overseas Pakistanis sent remittances amounting to $8 billion in the first five months of 2015-16, which translates into a year-on-year increase of 7.6%, according to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday.
Remittances amounted to a little less than $7.5 billion in the same months of the preceding fiscal year. They amounted to almost $1.6 billion in November alone, which is 3.3% higher than the remittances received in the preceding month, SBP data shows.
Pakistanis based in foreign countries sent home $18.4 billion in 2014-15, which translated into a year-on-year increase of 16.5%.
Inflows from Saudi Arabia were the largest source of remittances in July-November. They amounted to nearly $2.4 billion in the five months, up 11.2% from the corresponding period of the last year.
Remittances received in July-November from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) increased 12.3% to almost $1.8 billion on a year-on-year basis. Inflows from the UAE had registered the largest increase (26.1%) from any major remittance-sending country in 2014-15, SBP data shows.
In the last five months of the current fiscal year, remittances from Dubai have surged 45.8% year-on-year. But the figure for overall inflows from the UAE so far has remained subdued because of a 26% annual decline in remittances from Abu Dhabi over the same period.
Remittances from the United States and the United Kingdom remained $1.1 billion and $1 billion, respectively, in July-November. The year-on-year change in remittances from the US and the UK has been -1.5% and 4.4%, respectively.
Remittances from Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, excluding Saudi Arabia and the UAE, clocked up at $960.5 million in July-November, which is 11.8% higher than the remittances received from these countries in the same months of the preceding fiscal year.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 11th, 2015.
Overseas Pakistanis sent remittances amounting to $8 billion in the first five months of 2015-16, which translates into a year-on-year increase of 7.6%, according to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday.
Remittances amounted to a little less than $7.5 billion in the same months of the preceding fiscal year. They amounted to almost $1.6 billion in November alone, which is 3.3% higher than the remittances received in the preceding month, SBP data shows.
Pakistanis based in foreign countries sent home $18.4 billion in 2014-15, which translated into a year-on-year increase of 16.5%.
Inflows from Saudi Arabia were the largest source of remittances in July-November. They amounted to nearly $2.4 billion in the five months, up 11.2% from the corresponding period of the last year.
Remittances received in July-November from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) increased 12.3% to almost $1.8 billion on a year-on-year basis. Inflows from the UAE had registered the largest increase (26.1%) from any major remittance-sending country in 2014-15, SBP data shows.
In the last five months of the current fiscal year, remittances from Dubai have surged 45.8% year-on-year. But the figure for overall inflows from the UAE so far has remained subdued because of a 26% annual decline in remittances from Abu Dhabi over the same period.
Remittances from the United States and the United Kingdom remained $1.1 billion and $1 billion, respectively, in July-November. The year-on-year change in remittances from the US and the UK has been -1.5% and 4.4%, respectively.
Remittances from Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, excluding Saudi Arabia and the UAE, clocked up at $960.5 million in July-November, which is 11.8% higher than the remittances received from these countries in the same months of the preceding fiscal year.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 11th, 2015.