Overseas Pakistanis sent home remittances worth $17.841 billion during July-May 2015-16, reflecting a year-on-year growth of 5.6 per cent, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Friday.
Remittances stood at $16.898bn during the same period of the preceding fiscal year.
However, this year’s growth rate was much lower than the 17.9pc recorded in the 11-month period of 2014-15.
Remittances are expected to touch $19bn during the outgoing fiscal year, with the addition of another $1bn this month.
The country’s dependence on Arab countries for remittances has further increased this year. Of the total, about $11.505bn (64.5pc) was remitted from the region.
The region is the biggest importer of manpower from Pakistan but the trade with the region is highly imbalanced and is vastly in favour of Arab countries.
The 11-month remittances were higher than the foreign exchange reserves held by the SBP built on borrowing from international financial institution (IFIs) and raising dollars through selling of bonds in the international market.Read More »Remittances growth slows to 5.6pc