The inflows of remittances maintained its sustainability from the recent past which continued to surge the overall values to a handsome level of $15.8 billion in the first half of the financial year 2021-22.
The remittances grew by 11.3 percent during the first half of FY22 over the same period last year.
The inflows of remittances may swell to $30 to $31 billion in the current financial year provided the inflows continue with similar growth. According to the State Bank of Pakistan, workers’ remittances inflows stand at $2.5 billion in December 2021. In terms of growth, remittances increased by 2.5 percent (m/m) and 3.4 percent (y/y) in December 2021.
Remittance inflows during December 2021 were mainly sourced from Saudi Arabia ($626.6 million), the United Arab Emirates ($453.2 million), the United Kingdom ($340.8 million), and the United States of America ($248.5 million).
Proactive policy measures by the government and SBP to incentivize the use of formal channels and altruistic transfers to Pakistan amid the pandemic have positively contributed towards the sustained inflows of remittances since last year.
The July-November FY22 data of workers’ remittances has been revised upward to reflect inflows into Roshan Digital Accounts (RDA) that are related to local consumption (like payment of utility bills, transfer to local PKR account, etc.).
Since data on these conversions was not previously available by country, these were reported under ‘other private transfers’ in the balance of payments statistics. The December 2021 data is also compiled accordingly, and this treatment will be followed going forward.
Source: Pro Pakistani