Pakistani expats send home over $2bn for eighth straight month

KARACHI: Workers’ remittances exceeded $2 billion for a record eighth consecutive month in January 2021, data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Monday showed.

Pakistan received $2.3 billion worth of remittances last month, up by 19 per cent as compared to January 2020. However, remittances slightly decreased as compared to $2.4 billion in December 2020.

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On cumulative basis, workers’ remittances reached $16.5 billion during Jul-Jan FY21, registering 24 per cent increase over the corresponding year of last year.

A large part of workers’ remittances during Jul-Jan FY21 was sourced from Saudi Arabia ($4.5 billion), United Arab Emirates ($3.4 billion), United Kingdom ($2.2 billion) and United States ($1.4 billion).

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“This sustained increase in workers’ remittances largely reflects growing use of banking channel that is attributed to continuous efforts by Government and SBP to attract inflows through official channel, limited cross border travel amid second wave of COVID-19 and flexible exchange rate regime,” the SBP said.