In August 2023, the remittances sent by overseas Pakistanis experienced asignificant decline of 24 percent, amounting to $2.09 billion. Thisdecline, equating to $651 million less than the inflows recorded in thesame month the previous year, raised concerns about the country’s economicstability. Nevertheless, there was a glimmer of hope as the data releasedby the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) indicated a 3 percent increase ininflows for August 2023 when compared to the previous month.
Breaking down the remittance figures, Saudi Arabia emerged as the leadingcontributor with $490 million, followed by the United Kingdom (UK) at $331million, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at $308 million, European Union(EU) countries at $290 million, and the United States (US) at $262 million.
Despite these contributions, Saudi Arabia experienced a substantial 29percent year-on-year (YoY) decrease in remittances, while the UAE, UK, andUS saw declines of 43 percent, 10 percent, and 12 percent, respectively. Incontrast, remittances from European Union (EU) countries increased by 4percent.
Moving beyond August, the first two months of the fiscal year 2023-24(2MFY24) showed a broader trend of remittance decline. During this period,remittances amounted to $4.122 billion, reflecting a significant 22 percentdrop compared to the same timeframe in the previous fiscal year.
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This data underscored the need for Pakistan to address the challengesaffecting its remittance inflows and explore strategies to stabilize thiscrucial source of income for the nation
