KARACHI: Saudi Arabia remained the top source of remittances in December 2023, as Pakistan recorded an overall monthly inflow of over $2.381 billion, representing a 13.4 per cent year-on-year increase against a total of $2.1bn for the corresponding month of 2022.
The latest data released by the State Bank of Pakistan show that the expats transferred $577.6 million back home which was followed by $419.2m in the case of United Arab Emirates (UAE)
Share of other Gulf States is given as: Oman $81m, Qatar $73.1m, Kuwait $65.2m and Bahrain $35.9m, which translates into a total of $255.2m.
These figures again prove that the Pakistani expats from the Gulf States are the biggest contributors to remittances with a share of $1.252bn – more than half of the total remittances – which clearly negates the impression given about those living in the United States and the United Kingdom (UK) thanks to their social status and the use of social media.
It seems the remaining amount of $1.129bn has been transferred to Pakistan from the rest of the world in December, out of which $368m were from the UK, $284.9m from the European Union and $263.9m from the US.
Meanwhile, the December data also reveals a 5.4pc jump on a month-on-month basis when compared to $2.25bn in November 2023.
However, a remittances inflow of $13.43bn was recorded during July-December 2023-24 – a 6.8pc decline when compared to $14.42bn in the corresponding period of 2022-23.
Further analysis of the SBP data show that the remittances from Saudi Arabia increased month-on-month by 6pc and by 9pc year-on-year.
The monthly and yearly increase in the case of UAE was 2pc and 27pc respectively.
