Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: Remittances sent home by Pakistanis working overseas exceeded $2 billion in June for a record 13th month in a row, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Tuesday.
Inflows of around $2.7 billion in June 2021 showed 9 per cent growth on a year-on-year basis and 8pc on a month-on-month basis, the central bank said.
“Workers’ remittances continued their unprecedented streak of above $2 billion for a record 13th consecutive month,” the SBP said, adding seasonal pre-Eid ul Adha related inflows helped further boost remittances level during June.
On a cumulative basis, remittances rose to a historic annual high of $29.4 billion. “This has helped improve the country’s external sector position despite the challenging global economic conditions in the past year,” State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said.
Remittances registered a substantial 27 per cent growth in Fiscal Year 2021 over last year, the fastest rate of expansion since FY03.
Remittance inflows during Fiscal Year 2021 were mainly sourced from Saudi Arabia ($7.7 billion), United Arab Emirates ($6.1 billion), United Kingdom ($4.1 billion) and the United States ($2.7 billion). The State Bank said, “Overall, record high inflows of workers’ remittances during FY21 have been driven by proactive policy measures by the Government and SBP to incentivize the use of formal channels, curtailed cross-border travel in the face of COVID-19 infections, altruistic transfers to Pakistan amid the pandemic, and orderly foreign exchange market conditions.”
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin said government was committed to expand the tax base to enhance revenues exponentially. Chairing a steering committee meeting to review progress on broadening of tax base and integration of retailers into Point of Sales system in Islamabad, he said limited tax base is one of the key challenges.
