Pakistanis working abroad to send $20b home by June end

Remittances from Saudi Arabia, other GCC countries registered decline of 8.7% and 3% respectively

Remittances by Pakistanis working abroad are expected to reach the $20 billion (Dh73.4 billion) mark by June end this year reflecting 3.4 per cent growth.

Pakistani expatriates sent US $13.187 billion during 2011-12 and since then each passing year has been witnessing an increasing trend in remittances.

Official data on the flow of workers’ remittances released yesterday showed that, during 2012-13, an amount of $13.92 billion was sent to Pakistan, US $15.838 in 2013-14.

In 2014-15, remittances totalled $18.72 billion, and rose to $19.91 billion during 2015-16.

That amount shrank back to $19.35 during 2016-17, while $12.83 billion was received as workers remittances during first eight months of current fiscal year.

When contacted, official sources said historically, workers’ remittances have served as neutralising factor to keep the current account deficit low.

Remittances increased from $12.4 billion between Jul-Feb 2016-17 to $12.8 billion during Jul-Feb 2017-18, depicting growth of 3.4 per cent.

Thousands go abroad

Remittances from Saudi Arabia and other GCC countries registered decline of 8.7 per cent and 3 per cent respectively while increase of 43 per cent, 12 per cent and 2.3 per cent was recorded for European Union (EU) countries, United States and United Arab Emirates respectively.

Listing programmes for 2018-19, the sources said effective policy measures have been planned to strengthen external sector of economy by further reinvigorating exports, curbing unnecessary imports, enhancing remittances and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows. The Bureau of Emigration & Overseas Employment has said during July-Feb 2017-18, about 299,206 Pakistanis went abroad. During 2018-19, more than 400,000 Pakistanis are expected to leaver the country and seek employment elsewhere.

The Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis & HRD will finalise a National Emigration and Welfare Policy for Overseas Pakistanis in 2018-19. Committee for Skills Up-gradation and Overseas Employment Promotion will pro-actively assess manpower demand abroad in various sectors on regular basis and will arrange skilled manpower accordingly.

The Pakistan Remittance Initiative (PRI) will continue its efforts to ensure that migrants use formal channels to send remittances and to accelerate flow of home remittances through banking channels.

In this context, the State Bank of Pakistan has already launched M-Wallet Scheme and “Asaan Remittance Account” for promotion of remittances.