Remittances decline 3.2pc in July-Aug FY2023

KARACHI: Remittances fell by 3.2 percent in the first two months of this fiscal on year-on-year basis (YoY) mainly because of significant decline in July when overseas Pakistanis sent a lower amount of money back home.

However, remittances registered 1.5 percent growth in August of this fiscal compared to the same month of last year and went up by almost 8 percent compared to the month of July this fiscal.

“The increase in month of August is because of base effect as in July it came less and now in month of August it rose, which is showing the growth in August YoY and MoM basis,” analyst Samiullah Tariq said.

According to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Tuesday, overseas Pakistanis sent $2.7 billion during August 2022, posting an increase of 7.9 percent when compared to the previous month’s inflow of $2.53 billion.

Remittances also witnessed an increase of 1.5 percent YoY when compared to the inflow of $2.68 billion recorded in August 2021, data showed.

During the first two months of the current fiscal, on average, remittances posted a 3.2 percent decline, falling from $5.42 billion in July-August (2021-22) to $5.25 billion in the same period of the current fiscal year. Growth was registered after a month’s break when in July, remittances saw eight percent drop on YoY basis. However the inflows again went on a growth trajectory in the month of August.

SBP data showed that inflows of remittances during August 2022 were mainly sourced from Saudi Arabia, from where overseas workers sent home $691.8 million. It was followed by United Arab Emirates, from where workers sent $531.4 million; United Kingdom $369.7 million and the United States of America $294.4 million.

During the corresponding month, overseas Pakistanis living in Bahrain sent $42.8 million, from Kuwait workers sent $77.3 million, Qatar $88.6 million, whereas $92.1 million were dispatched from Oman.

Similarly the inflows from Germany, France, The Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Greece, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, and Ireland were recorded at $40.1 million, $37.1 million, $4.6 million, $45.4 million, $76 million, $30.5 million, $5.9 million, $5.2 million, 19.1 million and $10.9 million respectively.

Likewise, from Malaysia, Norway, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, and Japan, the workers dispatched $14.5 million, $10.6 million, $3.7 million, $60.9 million, $56.3 million, $56.3 million, and $7.1 million respectively. Remittances from South Africa during the month under review stood at $26.9 million, while that from South Korea stood at $8.3 million. Similarly $72 million were received from other countries.