Govt expects Remittances to exceed $27bn this fiscal

As remittances from Overseas Pakistanis continue to maintain their golden run, government officials are confident that they will surpass $27 billion this fiscal.

As per Radio Pakistan, officials are confident that the foreign remittances are likely to reach 27.28 billion dollars during the current fiscal year, as the share of remittances in the GDP has gone up to 10 percent.

Workers’ remittance sent by overseas Pakistanis rose by 26 percent during the first nine months of this fiscal year.

According to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), cumulatively, Pakistan received home remittance inflows amounting to $21.5 billion during July-March FY21 compared to $17.1 billion during the same period of last fiscal year (FY20), depicting an increase of $4.4 billion. Proactive policy measures by the Government and SBP to encourage more inflows through formal channels, limited cross border travel in the face of the COVID-19, medical expenses and altruistic transfers to Pakistan amidst the pandemic, and orderly foreign exchange market conditions are continuing to contribute to this sustained rise in workers’ remittances, the SBP said.

Meanwhile, the officials were of the view that the market-based exchange rate system pursued by the incumbent government has brought transparency to the system and ended the monopoly in the exchange market.

They said that the market-based exchange rate has helped in bringing stability to the economy by eliminating unnatural fluctuations in the rupee.

The officials said the Foreign Exchange Reserves of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) have increased to around $13bn. Whereas, over 100,000 accounts have been opened by overseas Pakistanis from over one hundred countries under the Roshan Digital Account with deposits reaching $671 million.