Karim Madad

The remittances sent by overseas Pakistanis were recorded at $5.2 billion in the first two months of the current fiscal and registered a decrease of 3.2% as compared to $5.4 billion in the corresponding period of the previous financial year, WealthPK reports.

According to the latest monthly report of the Ministry of Finance, remittances from abroad have been supporting the balance of payments position over the last many years. The inflow of remittances grew in July 2020 and reached the highest level. However, the remittances continued to remain above the $2 billion mark since June 2020.

The report said that the share of Saudi Arabia in remittances during the first two months of the current fiscal remained at 24.2% with $1272.4 million, UAE 18.8% with $987.6, UK 14.9% with $781.3 million, the USA 10.5% with $548.7 million, other member countries of Gulf Cooperation Council 11.1% with $581.4 million, European Union 10.8% with $294.7 million and Malaysia 0.5% with $25.9 million. The share of other countries was recorded at 9.2% in the total remittances sent by Pakistani workers to their homeland.

It said that Pakistan’s total liquid foreign exchange reserves stood at $13.8 billion on September 21, 2022, with the reserves of the State Bank of Pakistan recorded at $8.1 billion and those commercial banks were $5.7 billion.

The report said that the KSE-100 index closed at 42,351 points on August 31, 2022, while market capitalisation settled at Rs7,035 billion. It added that the global economy was suffering from slow growth, higher inflation and monetary tightening.

It said that global economic activities contracted for the first time in August 2022 since June 2020 amid the decline in international trade volumes. Global commodity prices showed a mixed picture in August. Energy prices increased by 1.3% while agricultural prices eased by 1.0%. Food prices declined by 1.6% and that of fertilisers eased by 1.5%.

Meher Kashif Younis, when contacted by WealthPK, termed the report realistic. He said that overseas Pakistanis always played an important role in the development of their motherland by remitting their hard-earned money. He expressed the hope that they would also play an active in the relief and rehabilitation of their flood-affected brothers and sisters.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk