Published in The Express Tribune on October 12, 2020
Pakistan recorded an inflow of $2.3b foreign currency in September
ISLAMABAD:
Prime Minister Imran Khan revealed on Monday that the remittances flowing into Pakistan reached $2.3 billion in September 2020, keeping the inflow of foreign currency to the country above $2 billion for a fourth consecutive month.
“Despite Covid more good news for our economy,” PM said in a tweet, “Alhamdulillah, remittances from our hardworking overseas Pakistanis rose to $2.3 bn in Sept 2020, 31% higher than last Sept & 9% higher than August 2020,”
It was reported in August that the remittances flowing into Pakistan reached $2,768 million in July 2020 – the highest ever amount in one month in the history of Pakistan.
Taking to Twitter, the prime minister had shared the “good news”, saying the increase in July was 12.2% higher than June 2020 and 36.5% higher when compared with July 2019.
“More good news for Pak economy. Remittances from overseas Pakistanis reached $2,768 million in July 2020, highest ever amount in one month in the history of Pakistan. This is a 12.2% increase over June 2020 and 36.5% increase over July 2019,” the premier had wrote on Twitter.
The country-wise breakup of the remittances showed that the highest amount – $821.55 million – in July came from Saudi Arabia, followed by $538.19 million from the United Arab Emirates (UAE). In June 2020, the remittances from Saudi Arabia and the UAE were $619.43 million and $431.68, respectively.
According to the State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) statistics, overseas Pakistanis remitted $443.13 million from Dubai, $393.91 million from the United Kingdom, $250.6 million from the US, $88.29 million from Abu Dhabi and $4.69 million from Sharjah in July.
The remittances from other Gulf countries were recorded at $296.95 million, including $42,62 million from Bahrain, $69.83 million from Kuwait, $82.49 million from Qatar and $102 million from Oman. The SBP data however, showed a major decline in the remittances from US to $250.6 million in July from $451 million in June.
The remittances received from the European countries last month were $227.57 million. They included Germany $35.34 million, France $32.99 million, the Netherlands $4.5 million, Spain $38.9 million, Italy $49.46 million, Greece $20.01 million, Sweden $4.85 million, Denmark $6 million, Ireland $12.25 million and Belgium $23,27 million.
Pakistan received $22.25 million from Malaysia, $10.91 million from Norway, $2.83 million from Switzerland, $52.11 million from Australia, $43.13 million from Canada and $9.31 million from Japan. The SBP stated that $98.82m were received from other countries, making it to a total of $2,768.13 million in July 2020. In June 2020, the total remittances received from these countries were $2,466.28 million.
