KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan said on Tuesday that with inflows of around $2.7 billion in June 2021 (9 percent growth (y/y) and 8 percent growth (m/m), workers’ remittances continued their unprecedented streak of above $2 billion for a record 13th consecutive month.

According to SBP information, seasonal pre-Eid 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.

Remittances registered a substantial 27 percent growth in FY21 over last year, the fastest rate of expansion since FY03. Remittance inflows during FY21 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).

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.