*KARACHI – Foreign remittances sent by overseas Pakistanis have registeredincrease under the PTI government.*

*Remittances amounting to US $3.9 billion were remitted, showing a growthof 13.45% compared with $ 3.4 billion received during the same period inthe preceding year.*

According to SBP, overseas Pakistanis remitted US $3.9 billion in the firsttwo months of fiscal year- 2018-19.

During August 2018, the inflow of worker’s remittances amounted to US$2037.33 million, which is 5.60% higher than July 2018 and 4.24% higher thanAugust 2017.

The country wise details for the month of August 2018 show that inflowsfrom Saudi Arabia, UAE, USA, UK, GCC countries (including Bahrain, Kuwait,Qatar and Oman) and EU countries amounted to US$ 465.53 million, US$ 461.2million, US$ 316.89 million, US$ 278.84 million, US$ 193.17 million and US$59.64 million, respectively, compared with the inflow of US$ 511.28million, US$ 440.38 million, US$ 260.34 million, US$ 249.14 million, US$230.22 million and US$ 62.75( million respectively in August 2017.Remittances received from Malaysia Norway, Switzerland, Australia, Canada,Japan and other countries during August 2018 amounted to US$ 262.06 milliontogether as against US$ 200.35 million received in August 2017.

The rise in remittances is being seen in context of Imran Khan’s appeal tooverseas Pakistanis to donate for dams.

On Sep 7, Prime Minister Imran Khan had urged the overseas Pakistanis todonate generously for construction of dams in Pakistan to avert the loomingwater crisis.

The PM urged the Pakistanis working abroad to donate at least 1000 dollarsto the dam fund so that the water reservoirs could be constructed withintime and within the estimated cost.

“Our debt today stands at 30,000 billion. But one of our biggest issuestoday is the looming water crisis. When Pakistan was created; everyPakistani had 5600 cubic-metres of water. Today that stands at only 1000cubic-metres,” said the PM.