Staff Report
KARACHI: The foreign currency inflows on account of workers’ remittances hit an eight-month low at $2.22 billion in October, according to official sources.
They said the expatriates have seemingly switched to un-authorised channels to send the funds in a bid to fetch a better exchange rate. The black market is offering an exchange rate of Rs235-240 for a dollar. This is Rs14-18 higher compared with Rs221-222 being offered by official channels including commercial banks.
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Friday reported that the remittances decreased by 9.1% to $2.22 billion in October in comparison with $2.44 billion in the month of September. This was 15.7% low in the month under review compared with $2.63 billion received in the same month of the last year.
Cumulatively in the first four-month (July-October) of the current fiscal — 2023, the remittances dropped by 8.6% to $9.90 billion compared with $10.83 billion in the same period of the previous year. The workers’ remittances from the US improved by 6.9% to $1.07 billion in the four months compared with the same period of the last year.
The inflows from the UK, however, dropped by 8.3% in the four months to $1.37 billion in the period under review. The receipts from Saudi Arabia reduced by 11.7% to $2.46 billion. The inflows from the second largest region, the UAE, fell by 9.2% to $1.88 billion in the four months. The inflows from other Gulf Cooperation Council countries decreased by 6.2% to $1.14 billion. The workers’ remittances from the EU countries declined by 11.1% to Rs1.06 billion. Pakistan is witnessing a gradual slowdown in receipts of workers’ remittances for the past several months.
