PM Imran lauds overseas Pakistanis for high remittances

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday appreciated overseas Pakistani workers for sending more remittances through banking channels.

“Remittances for the past fiscal year came in much higher at 9.7 percent annual growth and totaled $21.8 billion for the year,” Prime Minister Imran Khan said in a tweet.

The prime minister thanked the overseas workers for the remittances, which he said were much higher than the previous year when they grew only 2.9 percent.

According to the State Bank of Pakistan, overseas Pakistanis remitted $21,841.50 million during fiscal year 2018-19, showing a growth of 9.68 percent compared with $19,913.55mn during the same period in the previous year.

During June 2019, the inflow of workers’ remittances amounted to $1,650.52 million, which was 28.72 percent lower than May 2019 and 1.40 percent higher than June 2018, the central bank said in a report on Wednesday.

Country-wise details for the month of June 2019 showed that inflows from Saudi Arabia, UAE, USA, UK, GCC countries (including Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman), and EU countries amounted to $334mn, $356.03mn, $276.76mn, $268.97mn, $163.46mn and $52.49 million respectively, compared with the inflow of $336.61mn, $345.31mn, $260.32mn, $260.25mn, $163.53mn, and $62.16mn respectively in June 2018.

Remittances received from Malaysia, Norway, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, Japan and other countries during June 2019 amounted to $198.81mn together as against $199.47mn received in June 2018.