
Overseas Pakistani send highest ever remittance inflows for May 2025
Overseas Pakistanis have contributed to Pakistani external woes, as they are heroes for Pakistan. Overseas Pakistani workers have broken the remittances inflows record for the month of May 2025. The government of Pakistan has posted the official number of remittance inflows for the month of May 2025. Pakistan received US 3.7 billion dollars for the month in remittance inflows, which is officially the second-highest remittances ever and the highest for the month of May as well. It is no surprise that Pakistan is suffering from an external debt issue and at one time was near to default; however, the IMF and the government came to a conclusion and officially agreed to an SBA IMF program in 2023.
Therefore, it is expected that Pakistan will post another current account surplus for this month, and the trade deficit will be covered by the high figures of remittances. Another issue emerging for Pakistan is high primary income debt, which is almost double compared to last year. Primary income debt is a profit credit from foreign investment, interest payment, international workers' payment remittance outflow from Pakistan, and stock profits outflows from international investors. It is suggested that any kind of remittance outflow or dollar outflow except loans is a primary income debt, which is becoming another elephant in the room.
However, Pakistan should be considered lucky, as overseas Pakistanis have contributed to saving Pakistan from borrowing such expensive loans that it would be impossible to pay back in the short term. Pakistan's IMF program's major condition is to borrow external loans for external debt repayment, but due to low growth, a stable PKR, and stable inflows of dollars, it has given the government of Pakistan a choice to borrow loans on its own terms and avoid high-interest-rate loans.