KARACHI: Pakistan received a record over $28 billion in remittances during the first 11 months of the outgoing fiscal year, showing an increase of 6.3 per cent over the same period last year.

However, the inflow in May was much lower than in April while it was even less than the remittances sent in May 2021. The overseas Pakistanis remitted $2.332bn in May compared to a record monthly figure of $3.125bn in the preceding month. The inflow in May 2021 was $2.506bn.

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) reported on Friday that the remittances during July-May FY22 were $28.4bn compared to $26.7bn in the same period of last year.

In terms of growth, remittances in May decreased by 25.4pc on a month-on-month basis and 6.9pc on a year-on-year basis, largely reflecting the usual seasonal post-Eid decline and associated long holiday, noted the central bank.

At $2.3bn in May, workers’ remittances have continued to remain above the $2bn mark since June 2020, said the SBP. Remittances in May were mainly sourced from Saudi Arabia ($542 million), the United Arab Emirates ($435m), the United Kingdom ($354m) and the United States of America ($233m).

The highest remittances of about $7.059 billion were received from Saudi Arabia during the July-May period. Inflows from the UK and US grew 8.5pc and 18.5pc to $4.025bn and $2.8bn, respectively.

Published in Dawn,June 11th, 2022