Pakistan's remittances hit 'highest ever' of $2.76bn in July

Remittances from overseas Pakistanis reached $2,768 million in July 2020, the highest ever amount in one month in the history of the country.

As per SBP, the remittances showed an increase of $740mn (or 36.5pc) over last July and an increase of $302mn (or 12.2pc) over June. This is the highest ever recorded workers’ remittances in a single month.

July’s strong yearly growth rate is around twice as high as the Eid-ul-Adha related seasonality typically experienced over the last decade, suggesting other factors are at play. Since the global outbreak of Corona in February 2020, remittances have increased by 14.3 percent compared to the same period last year.

Given the impact of Covid-19 globally, this increase in workers’ remittances is encouraging, said SBP.

SBP pointed out that several factors have likely supported the growth in remittances to date, including orderly exchange rate conditions and policy steps taken by the State Bank and the Federal Government under the Pakistan Remittance Initiative.

These steps include reducing the threshold for eligible transactions from USD 200 to USD 100 under the Reimbursement of Telegraphic Transfer (TT) Charges Scheme, an increased push towards adoption of digital channels, and targeted marketing campaigns to promote formal channels for sending remittances.

In July, sizeable amounts of workers' remittances were received from Saudi Arabia (US $ 821.6 million), UAE (US $ 538.2 million), UK (US $ 393.9 million) and USA (US $ 250.6 million).