Remittances clock in at $2.67 billion in September

Overseas workers' remittances continued their momentum, with $2.67 billion of inflows recorded during September, said the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Friday.

The amount is 16.9% higher year-on-year when compared with $2.28 billion received in September 2020 and a 0.5% increase month-on-month.

"Proactive policy measures by the government and the SBP to incentivise the use of formal channels, curtailed cross‐border travel in the face of Covid‐19, altruistic transfers to Pakistan amid the pandemic, and orderly foreign exchange market conditions have positively contributed towards the sustained improvement in remittance inflows since last year," said the SBP in a statement.

"Cumulatively, at $8.0 billion, remittances grew by 12.5% during the first quarter of this year over the same period last year," added the central bank.

This is the 16th successive month during which the country has received workers’ remittance above $2 billion.

“Looking at the first-quarter figures, if the trend continues, we could cross the $32-billion remittance mark in FY22,” Tahir Abbas, Head of Research at Arif Habib Limited, told Business Recorder.

In the first quarter of the ongoing fiscal year, remittances have clocked in at $891 million as against $7.14 billion in the corresponding period (July-September) of the previous fiscal year.

Workers’ remittances continue to post strong growth

Abbas said that he expects the current account deficit (CAD) to remain between $1-1.2 billion for September, a reduction from $1.5 billion accumulated in August.

Remittance breakdown

On a three-month basis, inflows from the United States and the United Kingdom rose by 32.1% and 13.2% to $836.1 million and $1.12 billion, respectively. Remittances from the UAE increased by 8.7% to $1.54 billion in the first three months of the current fiscal year.

Remittance inflows during September 2021 were mainly sourced from Saudi Arabia ($691 million), United Arab Emirates ($502 million), United Kingdom ($370 million) and the United States ($245 million).