Remittances grow 27 percent during July – November

Remittances grow 27 percent during July – November

KARACHI: The inflows of workers’ remittances registered 27 percent growth during first five months (July – November) of the current fiscal year owing to efforts of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to promote formal channels for foreign inflows.

According to date released by the central bank on Friday, during the first five months of FY21, workers’ remittances have reached an unprecedented level of $11.77 billion, 27 percent higher when compared with $9.27 billion in the same period of the last fiscal year.

The central bank attributed the growth to the continued government and SBP efforts to formalize remittances under the Pakistan Remittances Initiative (PRI), rising use of digital channels amid limited cross-border travel, orderly exchange market conditions, and some improvement in global economic activity are some of the important factors behind the sustained improvement in workers’ remittances.

The SBP said that workers’ remittances maintained their strong momentum in November, remaining above $2 billion for a record 6th consecutive month.

Workers’ remittances rose to $ 2.34 billion in November 2020, 2.4 percent higher than $2.28 billion in October 2020 and 28.4 percent higher than $1.82 billion in November 2019.

On average, workers’ remittances have been about half a billion ($ 499 million) higher in each month of FY21 as compared to the same period last year.

Remittance inflows during the first five months of FY21 have mainly been sourced from Saudi Arabia ($ 3.3 billion), United Arab Emirates ($ 2.4 billion), United Kingdom ($ 1.6 billion) and United States ($ 1.0 billion).