Pakistan Remittances Jump 13.8% to $3.9 Billion in October 2026

Pakistanis working abroad sent $3.9 billion home in October 2026, 13.8% more than a year earlier, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Tuesday, November 10. The increase pushed inflows for the first four months of fiscal year 2027 up 14% to $14.8 billion. Remittances are Pakistan’s most reliable source of foreign currency, and the strong start to the year supports the central bank’s higher full-year forecast.

What did the State Bank report?

According to the SBP, workers’ remittances in October 2026 came to $3.9 billion. Business Recorder put the exact figure at $3.89 billion, compared with $3.42 billion in October 2025. That is a year-on-year rise of 13.8%.

Inflows were also up 8.5% from September 2026, when overseas workers sent about $3.6 billion.

For July to October 2026, the first four months of the 2026-27 fiscal year (FY27), remittances totalled $14.8 billion. That compares with about $13 billion in the same months of FY26, an increase of 14%, or roughly $1.8 billion more.

Khurram Schehzad, adviser to the finance minister, shared the figures on X and said the sustained growth was strengthening foreign exchange reserves and supporting households, Radio Pakistan reported.

Where did the money come from?

Gulf countries again provided the largest share. The October breakdown reported by Business Recorder and Radio Pakistan was:

Source	October 2026	October 2025
Saudi Arabia	about $982 million	$838 million
United Arab Emirates	about $816 million	$703 million
United Kingdom	about $592 million	$499 million
European Union	about $461 million	–
Other GCC countries	about $370 million	–
United States	about $329 million	$301 million

Saudi Arabia stayed the single biggest source, with inflows about 17% higher than a year earlier. Remittances from the UAE rose about 16% and from the UK about 19%, according to Business Recorder’s figures. Flows from the US grew more slowly, at about 9%.

Why do remittances matter for Pakistan’s economy?

Remittances bring in dollars without any repayment obligation, unlike loans or bond sales. That makes them central to Pakistan’s balance of payments, which still relies heavily on imports.

The October figure is especially useful because the country’s trade gap is widening. PFM Today reported that Pakistan’s trade deficit grew 20% to $3.88 billion in October 2026. October’s remittances were roughly the same size as that monthly goods deficit.

Based on monthly SBP data compiled by Daily Pakistan, remittances over the 12 months from November 2025 to October 2026 totalled about $43.4 billion. Emre Akcakmak, head of frontier markets at the investment firm East Capital, said on X that remittances now cover all of Pakistan’s external deficits and equal roughly 10% of GDP, Business Recorder reported. He credited an estimated 10 million Pakistanis living abroad and called remittances “Pakistan’s oil”.

What is the SBP forecasting for FY27?

SBP Governor Jameel Ahmad said at the central bank’s latest monetary policy press conference that remittances had been resilient in the first quarter of FY27. The State Bank raised its full-year forecast to $45 billion, from $44 billion earlier.

To reach $45 billion, inflows would need to average about $3.8 billion a month for the rest of the fiscal year, close to October’s pace.

What happens next?

November’s remittance figures from the State Bank will show whether the pace holds. Analysts will also watch how the inflows feed into the current account and the central bank’s foreign exchange reserves as Pakistan’s import bill rises.

Akcakmak also pointed to Pakistan’s stock market, saying equities have risen 318% in dollar terms since 2023. The Pakistan Stock Exchange’s investor base recently reached a record, as PFM Today covered in PSX investor numbers hitting 681,965.