KARACHI, July 18: Gross home remittances rose to about $2.389 billion in fiscal 2001/02 up 120 per cent from $1.086 billion in 2000/01.

The State Bank said in a statement on Thursday that the amount includes cash flows, encashment of foreign exchange bearer certificates and foreign currency bearer certificates, Hajj remittances and remittances from Iraq-Kuwait war affectees.

The statement said out of the total $2.389 billion received in July/June 2001/2002, $2.299 billion was sent back home by overseas Pakistanis up 151 per cent from $915 million received in July/June 2000-01.

“During the month of June 2002 the country received highest ever amount of $268.54 million as workers remittances as compared to $85.85 million in June 2001, posting an increase of 212.80 per cent.”

Senior bankers say workers remittances crossed the $2 billion mark in the outgoing fiscal year primarily due to post 9/11 developments. They say that tightening of anti-money laundering laws in the US and in the rest of the world after 9/11 resulted in higher inflow of foreign exchange into Pakistan. That levelled the gap between the official and kerb market exchange rates—and the incentive to send foreign exchange through informal channels disappeared. Hence a marked increase in home remittances.

The extraordinary increase in home remittances has helped the country build foreign exchange reserves. The reserves rose by $3 billion to $6.2 billion in the outgoing fiscal year.