ISLAMABAD: Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates once again emerged as top contributors to Pakistani workers’ remittances that soared to a historic annual high of $29.4 billion in the last fiscal year, the State Bank of Pakistan announced in an official statement on Tuesday.
“Remittance inflows during FY21 were mainly sourced from Saudi Arabia ($7.7 billion), the United Arab Emirates ($6.1 billion), the United Kingdom ($4.1 billion) and the United States ($2.7 billion),” the central bank said.
Last month alone, the country recorded a remittance inflow of about $2.7 billion, making June 2021 the thirteenth consecutive month that witnessed an influx of over $2 billion.
According to the central bank, the rise in remittances has “helped improve the country’s external sector position despite the challenging global economic conditions in the past year.”
“Remittances registered a substantial 27 percent growth in FY21 over last year, and the fastest rate of expansion since FY03,” it added.
The government has already maintained the growth in remittances has been fueled by its “proactive policy measures” since it “incentivized the use of formal [banking] channels.”
Other factors helping the process include “curtailed cross-border travel in the face of COVID-19 infections, altruistic transfers to Pakistan amid the pandemic, and orderly foreign exchange market conditions,” the statement noted.
Saudi Arabia, UAE biggest contributors as Pakistan receives over $29 billion in remittances
https://arab.news/bwstv
Saudi Arabia, UAE biggest contributors as Pakistan receives over $29 billion in remittances
- The rise in remittance inflow has been attributed to the government’s ‘proactive policies’ and ‘curtailed cross-border travel’ due to COVID-19
- Pakistan’s central bank says the growth in remittance inflows has improved the country’s ‘external sector position’ despite the global pandemic
Pakistan steps up local vaccine manufacturing push with Saudi cooperation Eleven-member Saudi delegation’ to arrive in Pakistan today to give practical shape to local vaccine manufacturing in Pakistan, says health ministry Domestic vaccine manufacturing
- Talks with Saudi delegation aim to support domestic production for national immunization needs, ministry says
- Pakistan currently imports all vaccines, which ramps up foreign exchange and procurement pressures
ISLAMABAD: A high-level Saudi delegation is arriving in Pakistan today, Monday, to give practical shape to local vaccine manufacturing in Pakistan, the health ministry said in a statement amid Islamabad’s push to meet its national immunization needs.
The eleven-member Saudi delegation’s visit marks a “critical milestone” in strengthening bilateral cooperation between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia in health, pharmaceutical manufacturing and industrial collaboration, the ministry said.
It added that the development takes place after Pakistan Health Minister Syed Mustafa Kamal held three meetings with his Saudi counterpart over the past seven months in which both sides discussed local vaccine manufacturing, investment opportunities and technical cooperation. Kamal also met Saudi Arabia’s minister of industry to discuss the same. Both sides designated focal persons to ensure effective coordination and follow-up after the meetings.
“The visit of the high-level Saudi delegation is expected to prove a decisive step toward giving practical shape to the process of local vaccine manufacturing in Pakistan,” Kamal was quoted as saying by the health ministry.
The Pakistani health minister reaffirmed Islamabad’s commitment to establishing local vaccine production facilities, stating that domestic manufacturing will not only meet Pakistan’s national immunization needs but will also enable surplus production for export.
This, he said, would contribute to Pakistan’s economic growth and national stability.
“Ensuring the availability of safe, high-quality vaccines for the public remains the government’s top priority, ” the minister said.
Since Pakistan does not produce vaccines locally, it has to import them from other countries. Producing vaccines will help the South Asian country save valuable foreign exchange and avoid longer procurement delays as it seeks to inoculate its population against various diseases.
Pakistan, a country of over 240 million people, regularly holds national immunization campaigns against diseases such as polio, measles, rubella and hepatitis.
