Workers’ remittances: Inflows decline by 17 percent in August

Business Recorder on September 14, 2019

Inflows of workers’ remittances sent by overseas Pakistanis have posted a notable decline of 17 percent during the month of August 2019. According to State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), overseas Pakistani workers have remitted $1.691 billion in August 2019 as compared with $2.039 billion received during July 2019, showing a decline of $348.4 million on month-on-month basis, reflecting the usual one-off post Eidul Azha effect.

The received inflows are also some 19 percent lower than August 2018, in which some $2.089 billion home remittances were received. On cumulative basis, inflows of workers’ remittance also fell 8.38 percent during the first two months of this fiscal year. Home remittances amounted to $3.73 billion arrived in Jul-Aug FY20 compared with $4.07 billion recorded in the same period last year.

Among three major corridors of home remittances, inflows of home remittances from Saudi Arabia and UK registered a decline of 6 percent and 7.4 percent respectively, while inflows from US surged by 1.21 percent. Overseas Pakistani workers remitted $848.53 million from Saudi Arabia in first two months of this fiscal year down from $903.02 million in corresponding period of last fiscal year.

Similarly, inflows from US stood at $629.79 million and $549.47 million from UK. Works’ remittances from UAE also fell 15.61 percent to $775.84 million in July-Aug FY20 compared to $919.36 million in same period of last fiscal year. Inflows from EU countries stood at $116.45 million, down 6.58 percent. The country wise details for the month of August 2019 showed that some $356 million home remittances received from GCC countries (including Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman). Remittances received from Malaysia Norway, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, Japan and other countries during August 2019 amounted to $200.42 million together as against US$272.62 million received in August 2018. Bankers said that overseas Pakistanis sent extraordinary funds to their relatives in Pakistan during July 2019 for Eidul Azha expenditures, of which August inflows are on decline. However, they are expecting some surge in home remittances in coming months.

Sources: https://epaper.brecorder.com/2019/09/14/1-page/800846-news.html