KARACHI: The country received a record $15.83 billion in remittances from overseas Pakistanis in fiscal year 2013-14, an increase of 13.7 per cent over the previous year.

The constantly increasing remittances have now become the second largest source of dollar inflows in the country after export proceeds.

The details of remittances showed that overseas Pakistanis were sending more money back home for variety of reasons like rising inflation and price escalation in real estate sector.

However, incentives given to banks on higher remittances played a key role.

It was also observed that the number of skilled Pakistani professionals in the Middle East has increased thus remitting more foreign exchange to the country than unskilled manpower.

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The highest amount was sent from Saudi Arabia which touched $4.729bn, 30pc of the total remittances.

Currency experts and dealers believe that high remittances during Ramazan could lead to a total $2bn alone in this month.

Reserves rise to $14.6bn

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Thursday that the country’s foreign reserves increased to $14.637bn for the week ending July 4.

The foreign reserves held by SBP reached $9.602bn from $9.033bn the previous week, an increase of $569 million.

This increase is mainly attributed to receipts of $556m from International Monetary Fund (IMF) under Extended Fund Facility (EFF).

During the week, on account of external debt servicing and other official payments, SBP made payments of $78m from its reserves.

Published in Dawn, July 11th, 2014