Pakistan’s remittances reach highest ever of $2.76b in July, says Imran

Gulf Today Report

Prime Minister Imran Khan has said remittances from overseas Pakistanis reached $2,768 million ($2.76 billion) in July 2020, which is the highest ever amount in one month in the history of Pakistan.

Sharing a good news about Pakistan’s economy in a tweet on Monday, he said this is 12.2 per cent increase over the month of June this year and 36.5 per cent increase over July last year.

As per the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the remittances showed an increase of $740m (or 36.5 per cent) over last July and an increase of $302m (or 12.2 per cent) over June. This is the highest ever recorded workers’ remittances in a single month.

July’s strong yearly growth rate is around twice as high as the Eid Al Adha related seasonality typically experienced over the last decade, suggesting other factors are at play.

Since the global outbreak of coronavirus in February 2020, remittances have increased by 14.3 per cent compared to the same period last year.

Given the impact of COVID-19 globally, this increase in workers’ remittances is encouraging, said SBP.

SBP pointed out that several factors have likely supported the growth in remittances to date, including orderly exchange rate conditions and policy steps taken by the State Bank and the Federal Government under the Pakistan Remittance Initiative.

These steps include reducing the threshold for eligible transactions from $200 to $100 under the Reimbursement of Telegraphic Transfer (TT) Charges Scheme, an increased push towards adoption of digital channels, and targeted marketing campaigns to promote formal channels for sending remittances.

In July, sizeable amounts of workers’ remittances were received from Saudi Arabia ($821.6 million), UAE ($538.2 million), UK ($ 393.9 million) and USA ($ 250.6 million).