Islamabad: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has revealed that the country is showing a steady positive trend in remittances from overseas Pakistanis for the seventh consecutive month as in December 2020 the foreign remittances rose by $2.436 billion as compared to $2.097bn in December 2019.
This is 16.2 per cent year-on-year increase, says the bank’s report adding the inflows from the Gulf countries account for over 58pc of total amount in December,
Prime Minister Imran Khan has also hailed the SBP latest data terming it reflection of overseas Pakistanis’ trust in his government’s economic reforms which is quite reassuring and morale boosting.
PM Khan expressed his gratitude to the overseas Pakistan in a tweet: “I want to thank our overseas Pakistanis for yet another record-breaking month of remittances in December $2.4bn. MashaAllah, first time in Pakistan, remittances have been above $2bn for six consecutive months. Total for six months of this fiscal year [is] $14.2bn — a 24.9pc growth over last year.”
The SBP data reveals that on a cumulative basis, inflows during six months of the current financial year have increased by 24.9pc to $14.2bn, compared to $11.372bn during the same period last year.
“Remittances from overseas Pakistanis rose further to $2.4bn in December 2020, up 16.2pc compared to December 2019 and up 4.2pc over November 2020. For the first six months of this fiscal year, remittances have reached $14.2bn and risen 24.9pc over last fiscal year,” the SBP said in a note accompanying the data.
According to the breakup given by the SBP, 26 percent of the inflows in December came from Saudi Arabia with overseas Pakistanis based in the country sending home $624.8 million.
Inflows from the kingdom have hovered around $600m every month since June 2020.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) comes second with 21pc of inflow during December 2020 ($511.61 million) followed by the United Kingdom (UK) with 13pc at $325m.
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Moreover, inflows from the United States also rose to $203.23m and from the European Union to $245.95m. However, inflows from other GCC countries declined to 278.7m in December 2020.
Remittances have been a great source of economic activity and compensation for Pakistan since the pandemic spread around the world as they through formal channels have increased substantially due to travel restrictions.
They have also enabled the country to book a current account surplus throughout the current fiscal year. During the July-Nov 2020 period, the country posted a current account surplus of $1.64b, compared to a deficit of $1.745b during the same period last year.
