Appr. $5b at end of year.
Saturday, June 17, 2006
Record $506.57m workers’ remittances in May
Staff Report
KARACHI: The country received record workers’ remittances in May this year as overseas Pakistanis remitted an amount of $506.57 million against $358.30 million received in the same month of last fiscal year.
The growth in remittances in May depicted an impressive increase of $148.27 million, or 41.38 per cent over the corresponding period of previous year, the data provided by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) shows.
The remittances in July-May of 2005-06 also registered a growth as in 11 months of the current fiscal year Pakistan received $4,136.25 million as workers’ remittances as against $3,809.81 million received in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year, registering an increase of $326.44 million, or 8.57 per cent.
The amount of $4,136.25 million includes $11.10 million received through encashment and profit earned on Foreign Exchange Bearer Certificates and Foreign Currency Bearer Certificates.
Despite the growth in remittances, which is the second largest source of foreign exchange inflows after exports, the huge increase in the current account deficit, caused by a widening trade gap is a source of worry for the economic managers of the country.
According to analysts, the total remittances are likely to touch $5 billion this fiscal year against an estimated trade deficit of more than $11 billion for the whole fiscal, however they believe that remittances would cover only a nominal part of the trade deficit.
They said that trade deficit went on growing so rapidly since the beginning of this fiscal year that remittances from overseas Pakistanis that used to bridge the trade deficit gap to a large extent is now unable to do it because of huge deficit on the back of higher oil and machinery bills.
The first 10 months’ data indicates that Pakistani workers remitted $313.14 million, $348.41 million, $341.10 million, $372.50 million, $308.81 million, $371.24 million, $391.32 million, $358.13 million, $423.56 million and $401.47 million in July, August, September, October, November & December, 2005 and January, February, March & April, 2006, respectively. The monthly average remittances in the period under review amounts to $376.02 million as compared with $346.35 million during the same period of last fiscal year.
The inflow of remittances during the 11 months of the current fiscal year from the USA, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, the GCC countries (including Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman), the UK and EU countries amounted to $1,119.34 million, $670.93 million, $635.54 million, $537.39 million, $400.00 million and $109.92 million, respectively, as compared with $1,184.93 million, $567.54 million, $652.11 million, $471.85 million, $338.21 million and $92.26 million during the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.
The accumulative remittances inflow from Canada, Australia, Norway, Switzerland, Japan and other countries during July-May 2005-06 amounted to $652.03 million as compared with $487.76 million in the corresponding period of last fiscal year.
Another healthier sign, the data says, is the increase in the inflow of remittances into Pakistan from almost all countries of the world increased last month as compared with May 2005.
The country-wise break-up shows that Pakistan received workers’ remittances during May 2006 from the USA ($124.56 million), Saudi Arabia ($86.29 million), the UAE ($79.70 million), the GCC countries, including Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman ($60.09 million), the UK ($53.60 million) and EU countries ($12.86 million) as compared with the corresponding receipts from the respective countries during the same month of the last fiscal year, ie, $108.71 million, $61.32 million, $71.24 million, $45.90 million, $28.22 million and $9.01 million.
The total remittances received from Canada, Australia, Norway, Switzerland, Japan and other countries during May 2006 amounted to $89.18 million as compared with $30.49 million during the same month of last fiscal year.
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