KARACHI: Total inward remittances in FY19 clocked in at $21.841 billion, up nine per cent from FY19, according to data published by the State Bank of Pakistan on Wednesday.

The data showed that inflows from countries other than those in the Middle East were considerably higher than the preceding year significantly improving the country’s foreign exchange reserves.

Amongst the gulf nations, highest inflows came from Saudi Arabia at $5bn up 2.97pc from the same period last year following improvement in bilateral relations between Riyadh and Islamabad.

Furthermore, inflows from the United States also grew noticeably by 20.15pc to $3.409bn compared to FY19.

The increase in remittances from the US comes despite worsening relationship between Islamabad and Washington.

On the other hand, remittances from the United Kingdom also grew by 17.9pc as overseas Pakistanis sent $3.44bn into the country.

Moreover, remittances from the United Arab Emirates grew by 5.98pc in FY19 compared to just 0.7pc in the FY18 as total inflows clocked in at $4.619bn.

Collectively, inflows from the GCC countries despite improving during the period under review showed negative growth after total remittances clocked in at $2.119bn posting negative growth of 1.8pc compared to 7pc in FY18.

Malaysia has emerged as another important destination for remittances in to the country as inflows during FY19 increased by 35pc to $1.551bn.

However, on a month-on-month basis, inflows during June declined to $1.65bn compared to $2.315bn in May falling by 28pc.

Published in Dawn, July 11th, 2019