PM Lauds Diaspora For Remitting Over $2bn For 6th Straight Month

PM Lauds Diaspora For Remitting Over $2bn For 6th Straight Month
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday thanked Pakistani diaspora for keeping remittances above $2 billion for the sixth consecutive month.

"I want to thank our overseas Pakistanis for yet another record-breaking month of remittances in Dec: $2.4 bn," the Prime Minister wrote on his official Twitter handle.

He said that for the first time in Pakistani remittances have been above $2 billion for six consecutive months. "Total for 6 months of this fiscal year $14.2 bn - a 24.9% growth over last yr [year]," he further wrote on the microblogging site.

Meanwhile, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Friday that inflows of workers remittances have registered 25 percent growth during the first half of the current fiscal year. This is the highest half yearly growth since Fiscal Year 2007.

On a cumulative basis, workers’ remittances reached an unprecedented level of $14.2 billion during the first half of FY21, 25 percent higher than the same period last year.

Workers’ remittances maintained their strong momentum for the seventh consecutive month in December. Remittances rose further to $2.4 billion, growing by 16.2 percent on a year-on-year basis and 4.2 percent on a month-on-month basis.

Remittance inflows have been well-diversified. Most of the inflows during H1-FY21 were sourced from Saudi Arabia ($4.0 billion), United Arab Emirates ($3.0 billion), United Kingdom ($1.9 billion) and the United States ($1.2 billion).

This strong growth in workers’ remittances is attributable to the increased use of formal channels on the back of sustained efforts by the government and SBP to encourage inflows through official channels as well as limited cross-border travel due to the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, together with favorable foreign exchange market dynamics. TLTP