Pakistan records remittances over $2b for eighth consecutive month

• PM Imran Khan thanks overseas Pakistanis for the "record"
• SBP says that remittances were "marginally lower" than what was reported in Dec 2020
• PM shares "good news" regarding sustained growth in industrial sector

Prime Minister Imran Khan thanked on Monday the overseas Pakistanis once again for ensuring that the country recorded remittances over $2 billion for the eighth consecutive month. 

"Remittances from overseas Pakistanis were $2.27 bn in January, up 19% over Jan 2020 — 8th consecutive month of remittances above $2b," said PM Khan minutes after the State Bank of Pakistan shared the news.

PM Khan said so far the remittances of the country in the ongoing fiscal are up 24% compared to last year. 

"This is a record for our country and I thank our overseas Pakistanis," he said.

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In the same thread, the PM shared the "good news" regarding the "sustained growth" shown in the industrial sector.

"Large scale manufacturing saw another double digit growth month in December 2020 — 11.4% growth vs Dec 2019. Cumulative July to Dec growth above 8% now," he wrote.

Before his tweets, the SBP had released the data for the remittances Pakistan had received in January.

"In January 2021, remittances remained above $2bn for 8th straight month," said the central bank. 

The SBP said that remittances had increased by 19% compared to the same month of last fiscal year. But it also added that the remittances were also "marginally lower" than what the country had reported in December 2020.

Read more: Pakistan's remittances remain above $2b for sixth consecutive month

"During FY21, remittances at an unprecedented $16.5bn are 24% higher than same period in FY20," said the SBP.

The highest amount of remittances came from the overseas Pakistanis in Saudi Arabia, with data showing that the country had received $553.6 million from there.