April 17, 2008	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 10, 1429

KARACHI, April 16: Overseas Pakistanis remitted a record $602 million in March as against $520.24 million in the same period last year, a jump of 15.76 per cent, State Bank of Pakistan reported on Wednesday.

The previous highest amount remitted in a single month by the Pakistani workers was recorded in October, 2007, when an amount of $580.24 million was received.

The monthly average of remittances for the July-March period comes to $525.37 million as compared to $437.42 million during the same period of last fiscal year, registering an increase of 20.11 per cent.

Remittances sent home by overseas Pakistanis continued to show a rising trend as an amount of $4,728.37 million was received in the first nine months (July 2007 to March 2008) of the current fiscal year 2007-08, showing an increase of $791.60 million or 20.11 per cent over the same period of last fiscal year.

The inflow of higher remittances despite unstable political and economic situation would be a cool breeze for the newly-elected government which announced to take harsh measures to correct the economic imbalances.

The most worrisome issue for the government is the rising trade deficit which even surpassed total exports of the country in the first nine months of the current fiscal. The higher foreign exchange inflows would support the government to meet some of its huge deficits.