Remittances surge

This letter refers to the news reports ‘Stocks likely to continue upward trend amid decline in inflationary pressures’ (September 15, 2024) and ‘Overseas workers' remittances surge to $30.3bn in FY24; up 10.7 per cent’ (July 10, 2024). The second report mentioned that remittances sent home by overseas Pakistani workers increased by 10.70 per cent to $30.30 billion in the fiscal year 2023-24. According to the latest data, the inflows in the previous fiscal year totaled $27.30 billion. So that’s a whopping $3 billion increase year-on-year.

The first report reveals that ‘Pakistan foreign workers’ remittances clocked in just shy of $3 billion for the month of August, 2024, marking the fourth consecutive month with around $3 billion in remittances. On this basis, we could reasonably calculate a total remittances figure of around $36 billion for the current year, which is remarkable in the present circumstances. To maintain this robust trend, our government and the State Bank must incentivize the use of legal channels for fund transfers by all overseas Pakistanis. Another suggestion is that a chunk of these remittances may be utilized to pay-off our oppressive foreign debt.

Abbas R Siddiqi

Lahore