For expat Pakistanis, sending remittances is becoming easier than ever Another boon for Pakistanis not living in Pakistan is in the hopes that remittances stay up as they have been in recent times
I
By Ariba Shahid
t’s been a good year for remittances in Pakistan. The amount sent home by overseas Pakistanis throughout the fiscal year 2020-21 marked the fastest pace of growth in 19 years reaching an all-time high since FY 2003 to reach $29.4 billion on a cumulative basis. This means remittances grew by 27% over the previous year. It is strange, however, that Pakistan was able to not only maintain but ramp up remittances during a pandemic withstanding a manpower export slump. The reasons
22
behind this rise in remittances has been done to death. Many publications, including this one, have spent some time writing about the reasons for the rise. To sum it up briefly, some Pakistanis lost their jobs and were sending back money so they could relocate to Pakistan and some sent more money to support their families that were facing tough financial circumstances during the pandemic. In addition to that, hawala hundi wasn’t as convenient an option as it was in the past due to stricter controls and a reduction in international traveling. Moreover, the State Bank of Pakistan timely stepped up and allowed remittances to be sent through Roshan Digital Accounts.
Why did remittances rise?
G
lobally, there are 270 million people that work away from their home countries and send money back to the motherland. For a lot of developing countries, remittances have become a vital source of financing for many developing countries. And as a recent NPR report has shown, the sums of money are huge. In fact, the amount of money sent in remittances is greater than the sum of all investments made by foreign companies in developing countries com-
