Formal Channels: Overseas remittances increase

ISLAMABAD: Overseas workers’ remittances registered a growth of 11.5 per cent during last ten months against 6.4 per cent in the corresponding period of last year, said Overseas Pakistanis Foundation (OPF) Managing Director Iftikhar Babar on Friday. He said that growth in remittances reflects a shift from informal to formal avenues to remit funds. Overseas workers were a major source of economic growth, said Babar. “The remittances during the first ten months of the current financial year reached to $12.9 billion against $11.6 billion from last year.” The State Bank of Pakistan focused on promoting formal channel for remittances such as banks and other money transfer services under the Pakistan Remittance Initiative, he added referring to the efforts of the current government to improve economy. Meanwhile, in a separate event here on Friday, the OPF distributed an amount of Rs0.855 million among 57 deserving overseas Pakistanis families.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 7^th, 2014.