Today DAWN editorial about falling remittances,

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ANY which way one looks at it, the steep fall in remittances received in the month of July is worrying. The inflows this year dropped by 20pc compared to July last year. Some attribute this drop to a post-Eid dip, but no such dip was seen in previous years, and considering the numbers are comparing the July data from last year and this year, any such fall would be accounted for in both.

Declines are broad-based, happening in countries ranging from the US to Saudi Arabia, the UAE and other GCC nations.

All three sources of foreign exchange inflows for Pakistan are showing similar trends, with FDI and exports also falling consistently. The State Bank and the IMF have, in their own way, warned about the vulnerabilities in Pakistan’s external sector.


The strength of the external sector is built primarily on exports, FDI and remittances. Once all three of these indicators show sustained declines — and going by recent data an accelerating decline — there are grounds for serious concern about the underlying health of the economy. The government’s growth story is now at stake. Managing an economy is about more than just the GDP growth rate and foreign exchange reserves. If the government has no ideas on how to arrest or reverse this trend, it is laying a very poor foundation upon which to build its legacy.

Source DAWN NEWS