Pakistanis working abroad remitted over $4.315 billion during first four months (July–October) of the current fiscal year (2011-12), the central bank reported Monday. This shows what the regulator called an “impressive” growth of 23.24 per cent or $813.66 million over $3.501 billion the country had received during the corresponding period last year (July-Oct 2010). Remittance receipts from across the world grew during the review period, said State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). Central bank attributes this increase in remittances to a joint initiative named “Pakistan Remittance Initiative (PRI)” it had taken in collaboration with the ministries of finance and overseas Pakistanis to facilitate foreign inflows in the dollar-hungry cash-strapped country through formal channels.
“This initiative has shown remarkable progress,” the SBP chief spokesman Syed Wasimuddin said. Inflow of remittances in July-October from Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, USA, UK, GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries (including Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman), and EU countries amounted to $1.145 billion, $963.12 million, $795.35 million, $486.92 million, $486.15 million and $129.81 million, respectively. Last year, the country’s receipts from these destinations stood at $764.31 million, $819.57 million, $666.27 million, $393.24 million, $416.91 million and $117.07 million, respectively. The remittances received from Norway, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, Japan and other countries during the said period amounted to $308.34 million as against $324.03 million received in July-October 2010. The monthly average remittances for the July-October 2011 period comes out to $1.078 billion compared to $875.35 million during the corresponding period of 2010, registering an increase of 23.24 per cent. In October last year, $1.017 billion were sent back home by overseas Pakistanis, up 19.03 per cent when compared with $855.11 million received in the same month last year. It may be pointed out that except for the month of September (2011), overseas Pakistanis have remitted over $1 billion in July and August of the current fiscal year, the State Bank said. In October 2011, the inflow of remittances from Saudi Arabia, UAE, USA, GCC countries, UK, and EU countries amounted to $291.20 million, $216.50 million, $167.60 million, $131.54 million, $117.56 million and $28.08 million, respectively. The corresponding stats last year were $187.99 million, $198.28 million, $154.35 million, $104.18 million, $96.35 million and $32.42 million. The remittances received from Norway, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, Japan and other countries during October accumulated to $65.39 million compared to $81.53 million received in the same month last year. Export receipts constitute another stimulus for the country’s declining foreign exchange reserves that in recent weeks have contracted to $ 17.02 billion after crossing the historic $18 billion mark. During the first quarter of FY12, the country exports grew to $6.141 billion against $5.241 billion of corre sponding period in FY11. But, the imports grew more precipitously to $10.178 billion compared to $8.233 billion of first quarter last year. This widened the country’s deficit-prone trade balance to $4.037 billion compared to last year’s $ 2.992 billion. More worrisome for economic managers perhaps is the zeroing foreign financing especially in the post-May 2 episode, as foreign disbursements nosedived to merely $246 million during July-Sept (FY12) compared to $623 million of the same quarter last year. Foreign investment, viewed by the economists as only permanent stimulus for the terrorism-hit country’s dollar reserves, also dipped to $236.2 million during the first quarter.
