All-time high

For the dollar-starved Pakistan, that's real good news. The total amount of remittances received in the country - year on year, month on month, and accumulatively - has seen a significant rise. Pakistan fetched $4.1 billion in March 2025 - the highest-ever received in a single month. For comparison, the amount remitted in the previous month (February 2024) was $3.12 billion, and in the same period last year (March 2024) was $2.95 billion. Moreover, the figure for the first three quarters of this fiscal (i.e. the July-March period) has soared to $28.07 billion as against $21.0 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal year - showing a remarkable 33 per cent rise.

From $27.3 billion in FY23 to $30.3 billion in FY24, the volume of remittances continue to witness a consistent rise, and is projected to inflate to $38 billion by the end of the ongoing fiscal year. This potential rise of something like $8 billion for the full fiscal years means a lot for a country that has had to accept intolerable IMF conditions for a bailout deal worth just about 6 to 7 billion dollars. The SBP chief sees seasonal factors, such as Ramadan-related transfers, behind the rise in expat dollars in the previous month. However, a feel good environment - fostered by a stable exchange rate, a notable drop in inflation and SIFC-related activity - cannot be discounted as having encouraged the inflows.

It's about time the policymakers capitalised on the momentum by announcing steps to incentivise inflows from abroad. And with the first-ever, three-day Overseas Pakistanis Convention currently underway in Islamabad, there could be no better time for the government to announce special expats-centric investment programmes as well as other incentives.