$3bn remittances in Oct: highest monthly inflow in FY25 so far

KARACHI: Pakistan received over $3 billion home remittances in October 2024, the highest monthly inflow so far in the current financial year 2024-25 (FY25), the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) reported on Friday.

This strong performance reflects continued growth in remittance inflows, which rose by 6.7 percent in October compared to September 2024.

In October 2024, remittances from overseas Pakistanis amounted to $3.1 billion, up from $2.86 billion in September 2024, reflecting an increase of $192 million. The remittance inflows also showed a significant year-on-year growth of 24 percent in October 2024 compared to the $2.46 billion received in October 2023.

The major sources of these remittances were Saudi Arabia, which contributed $766.7 million, followed by the United Arab Emirates with $620.9 million, the United Kingdom at $429.5 million, and the United States at $299.3 million, the SBP report indicated.

Cumulatively, home remittances from expatriates surged to $ 11.8 billion during Jul-Oct FY25 compared to $ 8.8 billion received during Jul-Oct FY24, showing an increase of 34.7 percent year-on-year. This surge underscores the growing importance of remittances as a key contributor to Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves and overall economic stability.

Most of the growth in home remittances was witnessed from Saudi Arabia, where from inflows rose by 37 percent to $2.9 billion in the first four months of this fiscal year. Remittances from Saudi Arabia contributed some 25 percent share in overall inflows arrived during this fiscal year.

Remittances from the US mounted up by 14 percent to $1.14 billion and the UK reported 39 percent surged to $1.7 billion during July-Oct of FY25. Inflows from UAE recorded 56 percent growth to $2.3 billion in the first four months of this fiscal year.

Governor SBP Jameel Ahmed has already projected that remittance inflows will gradually increase and likely to settle at $34 billion by the end of the current financial year.

Analyst in the banking sector Ibrahim Amin said that inflows of remittances will likely increase in the coming months mainly from the Gulf countries due to the central bank’s arrangement with the Buna payment system.

He mentioned that a significant number of blue-collar workers and white-collar professionals also moved to Gulf states for better job opportunities, therefore their contribution will also reflect on the uptick of remittances.

He also suggested that the government, embassies, consulates, banks, and overseas organizations should create awareness to promote the availability of new services to the working class in foreign countries to get better inflows in the coming months.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024