RIZWAN BHATTI 

KARACHI: Inflows of workers’ remittances posted 8 percent growth during August 2022, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) reported on Tuesday.

According to the SBP statistics, the country received home remittances amounting to $2.7 billion during August 2022 compared to $2.524 billion in July 2022, showing an increase of $200 million.

On Year-on-Year (YoY) basis, workers’ remittances also recorded 1.5 percent growth in August 2022 compared to August 2021, in which inflows stood at $2.683 billion.

During August 2022, remittance inflows during August were mainly sourced from Saudi Arabia worth $691.8 million, United Arab Emirates $531.4 million, United Kingdom $369.7 million and the United States $294.4 million.

Cumulatively, inflows of workers’ remittances posted a slight decline of 3.2 percent during the first two months of this fiscal year (FY23). The country received home remittances amounted to $5.247 billion July-Aug of FY23 versus $5.418 billion in the same period of last fiscal year (FY22), depicting a decrease of $171 million.

Although, home remittances inflows from Saudi Arabia declined by 7.5 percent during the first two months of this fiscal year. However, Saudi Arabia is still the largest contributor in home remittances with 24 percent share in overall inflows. Overseas Pakistanis from Saudi Arabia remitted $ 1.272 billion during July-Aug of this fiscal year as against $1.376 billion in corresponding period of last fiscal year. Inflows of workers’ remittances from the US rose by 7.1 percent to $ 548.7 million in the first two months of FY23.

During the period under review, home remittances from the UK surged by 3.2 percent to $781.3 million.