Pak-Saudi trade volume rests at $3.6 bn only

LAHORE: The two-way trade volume between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, which is just US$ 3.6 billion, does not perhaps do any justice to the exemplary proximity the two nations have been enjoying for decades, but one hopes that the total value of the merchandise being currently traded soars higher after the visit of Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman.

The 2.6 million Pakistan residing in Saudi Arabia had remitted $2.97 billion during the first seven months of current fiscal year 2018-19, according to the February 2019 data of the State Bank of Pakistan.

This figure of $2.97 billion might cross the $ 6 billion mark by this fiscal year's end in June 2019. It goes without saying that the number of Pakistani labourers recruited by Saudi Arabian employers had dropped by 11 per cent to 460,000 in 2016, despite the fact that the Kingdom had remained the busiest corridor for Pakistani migrants higher than in any year since 2005. In July 2016, Pakistan had remitted $5.9 billion back home from Saudi Arabia, which was the largest source of remittances for the cash-starved nation.