Pakistan’s central bank announced that the country received a record-high amount of $3.2 billion in worker remittances during May. Saudi Arabia was the top contributor to these remittances.

Remittances from Pakistanis living overseas provide billions of dollars to the Pakistani economy each year.

These remittance inflows are crucial for Pakistan, as they help boost the country’s foreign exchange reserves, stabilize its balance of payments, and support the value of the Pakistani currency.

In May, Pakistani expatriates sent a total of $3.2 billion in remittances. This represented a 15.3% increase compared to the previous month, and a 54.2% increase compared to the same month the previous year, according to official data released by the State Bank of Pakistan, Arab News reported.

“Remittances inflows during May 24 were mainly sourced from Saudi Arabia ($819.3 million), United Arab Emirates ($668.5 million), United Kingdom ($473.2 million) and United States of America ($359.5 million),” the SBP said in a statement.

“Cumulatively, with inflow of $ 27.1 billion, workers’ remittances increased by 7.7 percent during the first eleven months of FY24 compared to the same period last year,” it stated.

Remittances from overseas Pakistanis play a crucial role in supporting Pakistan’s external accounts, particularly at a time when the country is facing an economic crisis. This crisis has weakened the Pakistani currency and caused the country’s foreign exchange reserves to decline significantly.

“This is higher than our expectations as we projected full-year remittances at $28bn, while Pakistan has achieved remittances of $27bn in 11MFY24,” Karachi-based Topline Securities brokerage firm said in its report.

Pakistan had set a worker remittance inflow target of $28.5 billion for the current fiscal year ending in July.

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