KARACHI: Remittances sent home by overseas Pakistanis declined nearly 16% in October 2022 on year-on-year basis to $2.215 billion as informal and illegal channels of transferring money took their toll.
According to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Friday, the remittances were 15.7% lower than the $2.62 billion sent home from abroad in the same period of the previous fiscal year.
In Oct 2022, workers’ remittances recorded an inflow of US$2.2 billion indicating a 9 percent decrease over last month. For details see https://t.co/rPOvn9UuaNhttps://t.co/7XBd4uw3tu pic.twitter.com/VgWszEQmJA
— SBP (@StateBank_Pak) November 11, 2022
However, remittances declined by 9% on a year-on-year basis to $9.9 billion in four months (July-October) of the current fiscal year 2022-23.
“A number of things changed in recent months as the world is in engulfed in an economic slowdown,” according to experts.
“During this month, the gap in dollar rate widened between the formal and informal markets. As a result, a large chunk of remittances has been channeled towards informal markets through hundi and hawala.”
On a month-on-month basis, remittances fell 9.1% as they amounted to $2.437 billion in September 2022. On a cumulative basis, the inflow of remittances during the July to October period of the fiscal year 2022-23 stood at $9.9 billion, which was 8.6% lower than $10.8 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal year.
Overseas Pakistanis in Saudi Arabia remitted the single largest amount in October 2022 as they sent $570.5 million during the month. This was 17% lower than the $689.8 million sent by expatriates in September 2021.
Remittances from the United Arab Emirates amounted to $427 million during the month, a decline of 11% compared to $479.1 million in the same month last year.
Inflows from the United Kingdom fell 22% as they declined from $355.1 million in October 2021 to $278.8 million in October 2022.
However, remittances from the US rose 6% as they amounted to $253.1 million in October 2022. Overseas Pakistanis in the US sent $238.3 million in the same month last year.
