Remittances decline to $1.7bn in April.

Byline: Shahid Iqbal

KARACHI -- Remittances during the first 10 months of the current fiscal year rose 5.5 per cent, data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) showed on Monday.

On a month-on-month basis, remittances in April fell to $1.79bn from $1.894bn in March mainly due to sharp global economic contraction due to the pandemic.

The country received $18.78bn during July-April against $17.8bn in the same period last fiscal year. The growth in remittances during the 10 months under review declined to 5.5pc from 8pc last year.

The Covid-19 related impacts have the potential to drag down remittances as millions of migrant workers have lost their jobs across the world particularly in the Middle East where more than 2m Pakistani workers are employed. The World Bank also warned that the remittances to South Asian nations including Pakistan could fall by 22pc during the current year due to Covid-19 related impacts.

April data, however, shows that remittances from almost all destinations remained high. Currency traders were anticipating a much larger impact in April but the seasonal increase due to arrival of Eid - which traditionally sees an increase in remittances - seems to have helped sustain the growth rate.

During the 10 months, highest remittances were received from Saudi Arabia at $4.377bn, showing a growth of 4.8pc compared to 2pc in the same period last fiscal year.

Hundreds of...