Karachi: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has reported uptick in remittances for the eight consecutive month, stating that figures for the month of January have exceeded the USD 2 billion mark due to the combined efforts the federal government and the central bank.
According to the details revealed, overseas Pakistanis sent back USD 2.3 billion in January – a surge of 19% from the figures recorded during the same month in 2020. In January 2020, the inflows stood at USD 1.9 billion. In December 2020, the remittance figures amounted to USD 2.4 billion.
The surge is attributed to the combined efforts of the incumbent government and central bank. The measures to attract inflows include use of official channels for money transfers and flexibility introduced in the exchange rate.
The majority of remittances recorded between July 2020 and January 2021 were disbursed from Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), United Kingdom (UK), and United States (US). For January 2021, remittance levels from Saudi Arabia, UAE, USA, UK, GCC countries (including Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman) and EU countries stood at USD 553 million, USD 492 million, USD 203 million, USD 303 million, USD 271 million and USD 229 million, respectively.
