Pakistani workers’ remittances — the money sent home by expatriates — fell 9.5% to $2 billion in February, year-on-year, as economic uncertainties and exchange rate fluctuations prompted people to use illegitimate channels for transactions.
The remittances stood at $2.2 billion in the same month of the previous year, according to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Friday.
On the other hand, month-on-month, these inflows increased by 4.9% compared to $1.9 billion recorded in January 2023.
Remittances for the first eight months (July-February) of the fiscal year 2022-23 were recorded at $17.99 billion, showing a fall of 10.8% compared to $20.18 billion in the same period of FY2022.
A breakdown shows the highest amount of remittances during February 2023 was mainly sent home from Saudi Arabia ($454.6 million), followed by the United Arab Emirates ($324.0 million), the United Kingdom ($317.0 million) and the United States of America ($219.4 million).
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