RIZWAN BHATTI
KARACHI: Inflows of home remittances fell by 9 percent during the first four months of this fiscal year (FY23) as compared to the same period last year (FY22), the State Bank of Pakistan reported on Friday.
According to the SBP, cumulatively, the country received workers’ remittances inflows amounting to $ 9.9 billion during Jul-Oct FY23 compared to $ 10.827 billion in the same period of last fiscal year, depicting a decline of $ 927 million.
For the past few months, the monthly inflows of home remittances are on the decline mainly due to uncertainty and volatility in the exchange market. The country’s exchange rate touched the Rs 140 to the dollar mark in September this year and currently stood at Rs 221.64 to the dollar.
In addition, the newly appointed Minister for Finance Muhammad Ishaq Dar has recently mentioned that actual value of US dollar against Pak Rupee is below Rs200, therefore, overseas Pakistanis are reluctant to send excess amount to the country due to prevailing uncertainty in the currency market.
Remittances from all major corridors and countries witnessed declining trend expect UK, which posted 7 percent growth. Inflows from UK rose to $ 1.07 billion in first three months of this fiscal year compared to $1 billion in corresponding period of last fiscal year.
Overseas Pakistanis from Saudi Arabia sent $2.459 billion in July-Oct of FY23 compared to $2.785 billion, showing a decline of 12 percent. However, with 25 percent share Saudi Arabia still the largest contributor in overall inflows arrived during this fiscal year.
Month-on-month basis workers’ remittances decreased by 9 percent as an inflow of $2.2 billion were recorded during October 2022 compared to $ 2.437 billion in September 2022. Home remittances also down by 15.7 percent on Year on Year basis as some $2.628 billion were arrived in October 2021 as against $ 2.2 billion in October 2022.
Remittances inflows during October 2022 were mainly sourced from Saudi Arabia worth $570.5 million, the United Arab Emirates amounted to $427 million, the United Kingdom $278.8 million and the United States of America $253.1 million.
