Monthly remittances from two key Gulf states can each increase to over $1bn: says expert

#Monthly #remittances #key #Gulf #states #increase #1bn #expert

KARACHI: From these two major sources of the country in the Gulf region, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates can exceed $ 1 billion every month from remittances to Pakistan.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates send an average of 700 million and more than 600 million million every month to Pakistani citizens working, which increases a total of $ 3 billion. Central Bank data shows that in February, the amount sent from Saudi Arabia reached $ 744 million, which reflects a 37.9 percent increase over the same month of last year and a 2.2 percent increase over the previous month.

Similarly, remittances from the United Arab Emirates increased to 2 652 million in February, which increased by 69.5 percent year and increased by 4.9 percent during January.

Remittances increased by 32.5 % to $ 24 billion in the first eight months through February. During this period, the arrival of the kingdom had a total of $ 5.89 billion, while people from the United Arab Emirates were $ 85 billion. The government’s efforts to prevent illegal foreign exchange trade, the increase in citizens abroad, economic stability through the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Loan Program, and the facility of bright digital accounts to help migrant workers’ houses are collectively promoted. This cash transfer helps the nation’s economy, which is struggling to navigate the recovery. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) expects to reach a record $ 35 billion in fiscal year, which was $ 30.25 billion in the previous year.

Amin told News, “More than 4.4 million non -residents are living in Pakistani KSA and the United Arab Emirates, but the majority of blue -collar workers do not own bank accounts, resulting in them to send money to their families living in Pakistan, such as non -banning channels, such as non -banking channels.”

He added that several Pakistani banks are working in these two countries, but a large amount of 5000 dirhams and Riyadh is a major obstacle to owning a bank account.

“Under the supervision of a banking regulator, our commercial banks should extend the facility level for non -residential Pakistanis in GCC countries so as to attract non -banking channels remittances,” he said.

Amin said the management of Hola and Hundi is accessible to a large number of Pakistani immigrants and blue collar workers. References/hand operators offer advance payments to their regular clients to win their loyalty to even an informal system. However, he pointed out that the action against the United Arab Emirates officials would be conducive to Pakistan, as it could slow down the activities of non -banking channels and connect Pakistani workers with proper channels. However, banks should earn a regulatory ban against these elements to increase their maps in Pakistanis abroad.

The SBP integrates its payment system, crossing the border with the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) sowing system, but this system is not yet useful to the two countries.

Amin believes that fantasy operators can promote partnerships with banks to present digital purse accounts to non -residents according to host countries.

In an economy like Pakistan, remittance flow is very important as they permanently support the current account. In 2023, the country faced an important payment crisis, which is struggling to fulfill external debt responsibilities, while its foreign exchange reserves have decreased. During this crisis, multilateral and bilateral lenders as well as the financial support of trade lenders played a vital role in strengthening the situation.