Saudi Arabia, UAE lead with highest remittances to Pakistan

KARACHI: Pakistan recorded $2.7 billion inflows during September 2021, with the largest contributions coming from Pakistani workers in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the central bank said on Friday.
Since June 2020, remittances to Pakistan have remained above $2 billion and this is the seventh consecutive month that inflows were around $2.7 billion on average.
“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),” the central bank said.
In terms of growth, remittances increased by 16.9 percent year-on-year in September, while on a month-on-month basis inflows rose by 0.5 percent.
Cumulatively, at $8.0 billion, remittances grew by 12.5 percent during the first quarter of this year compared to the same period last year.
“Proactive policy measures by the Government and SBP to incentivize 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 toward the sustained improvement in remittance inflows since last year,” the central bank statement said.