Saudi Arabia, UAE remain top contributors to Pakistan’s remittance inflows

A Pakistani man exits a currency exchange shop in Islamabad on October 14, 2010. (AFP/File)

• Pakistani workers remitted $15.8 billion, mainly from Gulf countries, during the first half of the current fiscal year
• The central bank says Pakistan’s monthly inflows have remained over $2 billion since June 2020 due to the government’s proactive policies

KARACHI: Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) remained top contributors to Pakistan’s remittance inflows that increased by 3.4 percent on an annual basis in December 2021, the central bank data revealed on Friday.
The South Asian nation received $2.5 billion in workers’ remittances last month which was 2.5 percent higher than the month of November.
The country has consistently received over $2 billion in remittances every month since June 2020.
“Proactive policy measures by the government and SBP [State Bank of Pakistan] to incentivize the use of formal channels and altruistic transfers to Pakistan amid the pandemic have positively contributed toward the sustained inflows of remittances since last year,” the central bank said in an official statement on Friday.
Pakistan has received its highest inflows from Saudi Arabia to the tune of $626.6 million followed by the UAE that contributed $453.2 million. The remittances received from the United Kingdom and the United States amounted to $340.8 million and $248.5 million, respectively.
The country received $15.8 billion in remittances from overseas workers during the first half of the current fiscal year (FY22). The half yearly growth in inflows is 11.3 percent more than the corresponding period last year.
Pakistan secured its top remittance inflows of $4 billion from Saudi Arabia followed by $3 billion from the UAE during the first half of FY22, registering a two percent annual increase from both countries.
Analysts expect the country would receive more than $30 billion during the current fiscal year in workers’ remittances.
“We expect that the remittance inflows during FY22 will be around $31 billion,” Tahir Abbas, head of research at Arif Habib Limited, told Arab News.
Pakistan also received $31 billion in 2021, its highest ever remittance inflow which was 19 percent higher than 2020.