Remittances rise 19% to $12 billion

Monthly average stands at $1.09 billion for 11 months.

KARACHI: Remittances sent home by overseas Pakistanis rose by 19.5% or $1.97 billion to $12.07 billion in the first 11 months of the current fiscal year, compared with $10.10 billion received in the same period of previous fiscal year, data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) showed on Monday.

Remittances from all major countries of the world have shown growth during July 2011 to May 2012. Inflows from Saudi Arabia, UAE, USA, UK, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries (including Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman) and EU countries amounted to $3.353 billion, $2.629 billion, $2.127 billion, $1.394 billion, $1.366 billion and $335.55 million, respectively.

In comparison, remittances from these countries were $2.378 billion, $2.327 billion, $1.864 billion, $1.093 billion, $1.184 billion and $320.93 million respectively in July-May 2011.

“The continuous growth in worker remittances is the result of efforts made by the Pakistan Remittance Initiative (PRI) in collaboration with other stakeholders to facilitate both overseas Pakistanis and their families back home,” the SBP commented.

PRI was an initiative of the government taken in April 2009 to facilitate and support faster, cheaper, convenient and efficient flow of remittances through legal channels.

Expatriate Pakistanis in Norway, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, Japan and other countries sent home $861.38 million against $926.86 million received in the previous year.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 12^th, 2012.