KARACHI: Pakistan received record remittances of over $31 billion in the financial year 2021-22 (FY22), an increase of 6.1 per cent over FY21, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) reported on Monday.

The central bank said remittances in June FY22 were 18.4pc higher than the previous month, showing an increasing trend. However, remittances in June were only 2pc higher than in the same month in FY21.

Overseas Pakistanis sent $2.761bn in June FY22 compared to Rs2.332bn in May, showing an increase of $429 million. Despite serious problems on the external account caused by rising trade and current account deficits, overseas Pakistanis maintained their confidence as a show of solidarity with their country.

The country has been receiving more remittances than it has been exporting. However, FY22 witnessed that the exports and remittances were almost at the same position with slight differences in the amount. The country received total remittances of $31.761bn.

According to the provisional data, the country’s exports increased by 27pc and remained at $31.85bn in FY22, compared to $25.16bn recorded during the same period of 2020-21. The country’s exports registered a growth of 10pc on a month-on-month (MoM) basis, increasing from $2.63bn in May to $2.89bn in June.

However, trade deficit reached a new high of $48.67bn, a 57pc increase. The trade deficit in FY21 was $30.96bn.

The inflows of remittances are more important to meet the trade gap, which cannot be curtailed despite tall claims of banning a number of items for imports.

Further details show that the highest amount of $7.743bn was received from Saudi Arabia, with a minor growth of 0.2pc compared to last year. The remittances from the same country in FY21 were $7.726bn.

The inflows from the UAE declined by 5.2pc to $5.842bn. In FY22, the remittances from the UK rose to $4.487bn compared to $4.091bn, a growth of 9.7pc.

The second highest growth in the remittances was noted from the United States, which went up by 18.5pc to $3.082bn compared to $2.599bn in FY21.

Inflows from GCC countries increased by 8.7pc to $3.622bn. However, the highest growth was noted in the inflows from the EU countries, as they reached $3.361bn in FY22.

Published in Dawn, July 19th, 2022