Pakistan receives record remittances of over $8 billion in 11 months

KARACHI: Overseas Pakistanis sent home more than eight billion dollars during the 11 months of the current fiscal year, setting a new-record in the country’s history, the central bank said on Thursday.

“This is the first time that remittances exceeded the mark of eight billion dollars in any fiscal year,” the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said in a statement. The remittances for the month of June are yet to be accounted for, it added.

The bank said $8.064 billion were received during the first 11 months of the current fiscal 2009/10, showing an increase of $988.21 million, or 14 per cent, over the corresponding period last year, it said.

The central bank attributed the record-breaking performance to the joint initiative of Pakistan Remittance Initiative (PRI) undertaken by the SBP and the finance and overseas Pakistanis ministries with a view to facilitate the flow of funds from abroad. Read more