Remittances Increase for the First Time in 6 Months

After five consecutive monthly declines, remittances in February registered an increase of 4.9 percent on a month-on-month (MoM) basis and touched the $2 billion mark compared to $1.89 billion in January 2023, according to data issued by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). However, remittances received by the country from overseas Pakistanis are down 9.1 percent on a year-on-year (YoY) basis from $2.2 billion in February 2022. Remittance inflows during February 2023 were primarily sourced from Saudi Arabia ($454.6 million), the United Arab Emirates ($324 million), the United Kingdom ($317 million), and the United States ($219.4 million). Proceeds from expats residing in the European Union increased by 2.4 percent on a MoM basis in February 2023, reaching $245.3 million. Conversely, remittances from other GCC Countries (Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and Oman) decreased by 0.8 percent MoM to $241.6 million. Cumulative remittances during July-February (eight months) were down by 10.8 percent to $18 billion as against $20.2 billion recorded in the corresponding period of last year.