Pakistan: Remittances reach historic high at $20bn in first 8 months

Karachi: Pakistan has received record-high workers’ remittances of $20.1 billion from the expatriates in the first eight months (July-February) of the current fiscal year 2021-22.

Remittances stayed above $2 billion for the 21st consecutive month, says the central bank in a tweet.

Remittances rose 7.6% to $20.14 billion during July-February of the fiscal year 2021-22 compared to $18.71 billion in the same period of 2020-21, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) reported on Thursday.

The inflows rose 2% month-on-month to $2.19 billion in February 2022. They had amounted to $2.14 billion in the previous month of January 2021. They slowed down 2.7% in February compared to $2.25 billion in the same month of last year.

Remittances rose to $2.2bn in Feb, up 2% compared to Jan despite fewer working days. Cumulatively, remittances have risen to $20bn in first 8 months of FY22, up by 8 % over the same period last year. https://t.co/7XBd4uNES4 pic.twitter.com/atv21KmZzY

— SBP (@StateBank_Pak) March 10, 2022

With $2.2 billion of inflows during February 2022, workers' remittances continued their strong performance and have remained above $2 billion since June 2020, the central bank said in a statement issued in this regard.

“In terms of growth, during February 2022, remittances increased by 2% on a month-on-month basis despite fewer working days compared to January,” the statement read.