Special Assistant to the PM for Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Department (HRD) Sayed Zulfiqar Bukhari has applauded the overseas community for maintaining the remittance boom despite the coronavirus pandemic.

“Our government inherited record Current Account Deficit and today we’re seeing record levels of growth. Despite COVID-19 our surplus today is $1.6bn as opposed to deficit of $1.7bn same period last year.

“Thanks to Overseas Pakistanis remittances boom continues too,” said Bukhari in a tweet post.

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) revealed Pakistan’s current account surplus rose further to $447 million in November 2020, against a deficit of $326mn witnessed in the same month last year.

As per the central bank's latest data, on a cumulative basis, the country recorded a surplus of $1,640mn during Jul-Nov FY21 as compared to a deficit of $1,745mn in the same period last year.

Meanwhile, workers remittances sent home by overseas Pakistanis remain above $2 billion mark for the 6th consecutive month. As per SBP, the remittances rose to $2.34 billion, showing an increase of 2.4 percent over the previous month, while compared to the same period last year increased by 28pc.

As per the central bank data during the first five months of FY21, workers’ remittances have reached an unprecedented level of US$ 11.77 billion, 26.9 percent higher than the same period last year.