Remittances sent home by overseas Pakistani workers touched a record high as they grew 6.1% to $31.2 billion in fiscal year (July-June) 2021-22 against inflows of $29.45 billion in the preceding year. In June alone, the remittances increased 1.7% to $2.76 billion compared to $2.71 billion in June 2021. On a month-on-month basis, the inflow of remittances rose 18.4% compared to inflows of $2.3 billion in May 2022.
According to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Monday, the remittances during June 2022 were mainly sourced from Saudi Arabia ($666.4 million), the United Arab Emirates ($494.7 million), the United Kingdom ($454.9 million) and the United States ($284.7 million). Earlier in April, beating market expectations, the workers’ remittances surprisingly surpassed the $3 billion mark for the first time in history, as the overseas Pakistanis apparently sent the money to support their family members back home, particularly during Ramazan and on Eid.
“Remittances crossed the monthly mark of $3 billion for the first time,” the SBP reported on its official Twitter handle at that time. The country received alltime high remittances for the second consecutive month in April 2022 at $3.12 billion. Earlier, it witnessed record high remittances of $2.81 billion in the previous month of March. The market was expecting the remittances to stand around the previous month’s level as they were at record high. However, “they came $200-300 million more than market expectations,” Ismail Iqbal Securities Head of Research Fahad Rauf said while talking to The Express Tribune.
The inflow of workers’ remittances plays a critical role in the national economy, as they help economic managers to partially pay for elevated imports and repay foreign debt. “Historical trends suggest the remittance inflows peak out in the month of Ramazan and during Eid festivals almost every year,” Rauf said. Non-residents Pakistanis send more money to help their family members to cope with the high inflation in the country during Ramazan and Eid. Besides, they send their savings for investment purposes as well to avoid the impact of devaluation of the rupee, Rauf said. He pointed out that a majority of non-resident Pakistanis lived in oil producing and exporting countries, namely Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
(WITH ADDITIONAL INPUT FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT)
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ