ISLAMABAD – Foreign remittances sent by overseas Pakistanis have increasedby 13 per cent, 5.4 billion US dollars, in the first quarter of the2018-2019 fiscal year (July 1-June 30), in comparison to the previous year,according to figures released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) onThursday.
The SBP reported that overseas Pakistani workers remitted 5.419 billiondollars during the period from July 2017 to September 2018, up 629 milliondollars.
Inflows from Saudi Arabia were the largest source of remittances. Theyamounted to 1.263 billion dollars in the first three months of the currentfiscal year, up 2.9 percent as compared to 1.228 billion dollars in thecorresponding period of last fiscal year.
The highest rise in remittances was seen from Britain, which climbed 32.3percent to 828.4 million dollars against 626 million dollars in the sameperiod of last fiscal year.
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During the period under review, inflows from the United States rose to759.4 million dollars, depicting an increase of 18 percent. Among the threemajor corridors of home remittances, Saudi Arabia is still the largestcontributor to remittances inflows into Pakistan, despite lower growthcompared to Britain and the United States.
Local economists believed that the rise in remittances in the first threemonths of current fiscal year is a positive sign for the incumbentgovernment as it can play a key role in reducing the country’s currentaccount deficit. – APP/Xinhua
