Workers' remittances remained over $2 bn in Feb for ninth consecutive month
Workers remittances surge 24.2 percent in February
KARACHI (Dunya News) – For ninth consecutive month, the workers’ remittances from abroad remained above $2 billion in February 2021.
According to State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), on Thursday, workers’ remittances received in last month amounted to $ 2.266 billion; almost at same level of the previous month and 24.2 % higher than of February 2020.
During July 2020 to February 2021, workers’ remittances reached $18.7 billion; 24.1 percent higher than the corresponding period of last year.
A large part of workers ‘remittance inflow during this period was sourced from Saudi Arabia ($5.0 billion), United Arab Emirates ($3.9 billion), United Kingdom ($2.5 billion) and United States ($1.6 billion).
Policy measures undertaken by the government and the SBP to encourage inflows through formal channels, limited cross border travel due to COVID-19, medical expenses and altruistic transfers to Pakistan amidst the pandemic, and orderly exchange market conditions contributed to the sustained rise in workers’ remittances, SBP said.
Meanwhile, State Bank of Pakistan on its official Twitter account on Thursday said the workers’ remittances dispatched by the overseas Pakistanis surged by 24.2 per cent to 2.26 billion in February 2021 against the same month of last year when the remittances inflows were recorded at $1.82 billion.
“Remittances continued exceptional performance on Feb 21, reaching $2.26 bn, up 24.2% compared to Feb 20 and roughly same as last month.”
For the first eight months of this fiscal year, remittances reached $18.74 billion and have risen by 24.1 percent over the last fiscal year.
Efforts under the Pakistan Remittances Initiative (PRI) and the gradual re-opening of major host destinations such as the Middle East, Europe and the United States contributed to the sustained increase in workers’ remittances.
The details show that in February, the worker’s inflow from the USA increased from $138 million last year to $210.8 million in the same month of 2020, whereas from the United Kingdom the inflow also surged to $349.2 million from $173.8 million in February 2020.
Similarly from Saudi Arabia, the workers’ remittances also rose from $513.1 million to $532.6 million while that from Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and Oman, the workers’ inflow also rose to $429 million, $51.7 million, $5.2 million, $38.2 million, $71.8 million and $82.3 million respectively.
