Remittances sent home by Pakistanis working overseas exceeded $2 billion in June for a record 13th month in a row, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Tuesday.
Making an announcement on its Twitter handle, the central bank said that on a cumulative basis, remittances rose to a historic annual high of $29.4 billion. The SBP said that remittances registered a substantial 27 percent growth in FY21 over last year, the fastest rate of expansion since FY03.
Inflows of around $2.7 billion in June 2021 showed 9 percent growth on a year-on-year basis and 8 percent on a month-on-month basis, the central bank said. “Workers’ remittances continued their unprecedented streak of above $2 billion for a record 13th consecutive month,” the SBP said, adding seasonal pre-Eid ul Azha related inflows helped further boost remittances level during June.
“This has helped improve the country’s external sector position despite the challenging global economic conditions in the past year,” the SBP said.
Remittance inflows during fiscal year 2021 were mainly sourced from Saudi Arabia ($7.7 billion), United Arab Emirates ($6.1 billion), United Kingdom ($4.1 billion) and the United States ($2.7 billion).
The SBP said, “Overall, record high inflows of workers’ remittances during FY21 have been driven by proactive policy measures by the government and SBP to incentivise the use of formal channels, curtailed cross-border travel in the face of Covid-19 infections, altruistic transfers to Pakistan amid the pandemic, and orderly foreign exchange market conditions.”