Pakistan remittances rise 14 percent to 10.9 billion dollars in the first quarter of the current fiscal year, according to figures reported after the State Bank of Pakistan release of 9 October 2026. Workers remittances reached 10.87 billion dollars in July to September 2026, the first quarter of fiscal year 2027, up about 14 percent on the same quarter last year. September alone brought roughly 3.6 billion dollars, up 12.7 percent on September 2025. For a country that needs dollars to pay for imports and to build reserves, the rise is welcome news.
Overseas Pakistanis are the people behind the figures. Millions of Pakistanis work abroad, in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the United States and other countries, and they send part of their earnings home each month. That money pays for food, rent, school fees, medicine and weddings, and it also supports the national economy. When remittances rise, families have more to spend, and the country has more dollars coming in without borrowing.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE remained the major sources of inflows, alongside the UK and other destinations. That pattern has held for many years, because those two Gulf countries host large numbers of Pakistani workers in construction, transport, retail, health care and other jobs. The United Kingdom is also a large source, because of the large Pakistani community there, and the United States adds a smaller but steady share. The mix matters, because a fall in one country can be balanced by a rise in another.
The State Bank of Pakistan publishes the remittance figure each month, usually around the 10th of the following month. The September figure of 3.6 billion dollars was down 1.9 percent from August 2026, but that monthly fall is normal, because inflows cluster before Eid and then step down. The right way to read the series is year on year, not month on month, and on that measure September was up 12.7 percent and the quarter was up about 14 percent. That is a strong start to the fiscal year.
Workers remittances followed a record year. Pakistan received a record 41.6 billion dollars in workers remittances in fiscal year 2026, up 8.6 percent from 38.3 billion dollars in the previous year, according to the State Bank of Pakistan. May 2026 was the largest month on record, at 4.251 billion dollars, up 15.4 percent on the year before. The new quarter builds on that record, rather than starting from a low base, which makes the 14 percent rise more impressive.
The State Bank of Pakistan has raised its projection for the full year. Governor Jameel Ahmad said on 27 October that workers remittances are projected at 45 billion dollars in the current fiscal year, up from the previous estimate of 44 billion dollars. The governor said remittances have remained resilient in the first quarter, and the external account position has improved significantly. He also said the State Bank foreign exchange reserves had reached 21.5 billion dollars, which is sufficient to cover more than three months of imports, and are projected to rise to 23 billion dollars by the end of December 2026.
Foreign exchange reserves are the dollars and other foreign currency held by the central bank, and they are used to pay for imports and to meet debt payments. When reserves rise, the country is better able to handle a shock, such as a rise in oil prices or a fall in exports. The governor said the country was now out of the danger zone, after reserves had fallen to 2.8 billion dollars a few years earlier. Remittances are a large part of that recovery, because they bring in dollars every month without creating new debt.
The rise cannot be explained only by more workers going abroad. The governor pointed out that overseas worker migration had peaked at around 900,000 people in 2015, while the number had declined to about 840,000 a year over the last two years. He attributed the increase in remittances to several factors, including an improved exchange rate, reduced under invoicing, stronger border controls and reforms introduced for exchange companies. Those reforms have made it easier and cheaper to send money through formal channels, rather than through informal routes.
IT exports are also growing, and they add to the same story of dollars earned abroad. The finance minister has said IT exports are projected to reach 5.5 billion dollars in the current fiscal year, while remittances are expected to rise to 44 billion dollars under the earlier estimate. IT services exports have increased from 1 billion dollars to 4.6 billion dollars, with freelancers contributing about 1.6 billion dollars. Together, remittances and IT exports are now the two largest sources of foreign exchange that do not depend on selling physical goods.
In the coming months, the items to watch will be whether the monthly remittance figure stays near 3.6 billion dollars, whether the full year reaches the new 45 billion dollar projection, and whether the State Bank reserves keep rising towards 25 billion dollars by June 2027. For now, the Pakistan remittances rise 14 percent to 10.9 billion dollars in the first quarter, and overseas Pakistanis have given the economy a strong start to the year.
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