Pakistan's Remittances rise to all-time high of $2.8bn in April

The record spree of remittances continued despite the COVID-19 pandemic as workers’ remittances rose to an all-time monthly high of $2.8 billion in April 2021.

As per data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Tuesday, the workers remittances grew 56 percent higher than during the same month last year.

On a cumulative basis, remittances have also surpassed previous records. At $ 24.2 billion in July-April FY21, remittances grew by 29 percent over the same period last year and have already crossed the full FY20 level by more than $1 billion.

On the development, Prime Minister Imran Khan also thanked the overseas Pakistanis for sending record 24.2 billion dollars remittances during the first ten months of the current fiscal year.

In a tweet today (Tuesday), the prime minister said he always believed that overseas Pakistanis to be the country's greatest asset.

“I have always believed Overseas Pakistanis to be our greatest asset. In April, your remittances rose to an all-time high of $2.8bn. Remitting $24.2bn in first 10 months of FY21, you have broken the record level achieved in entire FY20. Thank you for your faith in Naya Pakistan,” said Khan in a tweet post.

Remittance inflows during July-April FY21 were mainly sourced from Saudi Arabia ($6.4 billion), United Arab Emirates ($5.1 billion), United Kingdom ($3.3 billion) and the United States ($2.2 billion).

The SBP said that proactive policy measures by the Government and SBP to encourage more inflows through formal channels, curtailed cross border travel in the face of COVID-19, altruistic transfers to Pakistan amid the pandemic, orderly foreign exchange market conditions and, more recently, Eid-related inflows have contributed to record levels of remittances this year.