Pakistan’s remittance growth highest in world: SBP

[sonicboom]

Pakistan’s remittance growth highest in world: SBP

Thursday, January 27, 2011

PESHAWAR: Pakistan presently has the highest growth of remittances in the world which is the second largest source of foreign exchange in the country, a central bank statement said after a workshop on remittance initiatives on Wednesday.

The State Bank of Pakistan’s Peshawar office arranged the day-long workshop with the help of Pakistan Remittance Initiative, a joint initiative of the central bank, overseas Pakistanis and finance ministries.

Participants set a draft of recommendations for further action in the field of remittance. More than 100 participants, comprising branch managers of remittance rich areas of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, regional heads of banks and bank officers dealing in foreign exchange attended the workshop.

Owing to the importance of remittance for the economy, the banking industry was expected to focus this area on priority, the statement said.

Rising interest rate is seen as one of the main causes behind the recent increase in remittances, which grew by almost 17 percent to 5.3 billion dollars during the first half of the current fiscal year.


Pakistan