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KARACHI, September 27, 2026 — Pakistan received US$41.6bn in workers’ remittances in FY2025-26, up 8.6% from US$38.3bn in FY25, according to SBP data reported by APP and Dawn. Saudi Arabia, the UAE and the UK sent the most, and the United States was the one corridor that fell. From October 1 a bank-funded prize scheme, Pasban, takes over from the incentives that ended in July.
FY26 remittances: the total and the growth rate
APP gives the unrounded total as US$41.585bn, quoting the SBP release of July 9, 2026. That release is listed by title and date on SBP’s own What’s New feed, but its text is not on a page we could open, so the figures below travel through the reports that attribute them to SBP. Growth also slowed: Dawn sets the 8.6% rise against 26.6% in FY25 and 10.7% in FY24. Adviser to the Finance Minister Khurram Schehzad called it the “highest-ever annual remittances in history”, Dawn reported; SBP’s own “record” wording is not verified.
Where the FY26 money came from
| Corridor | FY26 (US$ million) | Change on FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Saudi Arabia | 9,783.1 | +4.7% |
| United Arab Emirates | 8,806.9 | +12.5% |
| United Kingdom | 6,325.7 | +7.1% |
| European Union | 5,226.6 | +15% |
| Other GCC countries | 3,934.0 | +6% |
| United States | 3,623.8 | -2.6% |
Source: SBP data as reported by APP and Dawn · checked 2026-09-27
The amounts come from APP and the growth rates from Dawn, which also reports Australia up 37.4% to US$1.142bn. Inside the EU total, Italy accounted for US$1,547.3m, Spain US$905.6m, Germany US$806.6m and France US$591.6m.
FY27 so far: July and August
August 2026 inflows were US$3.656bn, 16.5% above August 2025 (US$3.138bn) and 0.7% above July’s US$3.630bn, from data released on September 9 and reported by Radio Pakistan and Dawn. The first two months of FY27 come to US$7.3bn, 14.7% above the US$6.4bn of a year earlier. For August, a Business Recorder feed carried by Aaj puts Saudi Arabia at US$873.5m, the UAE at US$749.8m, the UK at US$563.7m, the EU at US$496m and the US at US$308.9m. SBP Governor Jameel Ahmad said remittances “are expected to reach $44 billion this year”, The News reported.
What changed for senders on July 1
What changed
- Before: the TTCIS fee incentive applied, on criteria set by EPD Circular Letter No. 04 of 2025, and senders collected Sohni Dharti (SDRP) reward points.
- Now: TTCIS is discontinued, but banks must keep qualifying transfers “free-of-cost for the senders and beneficiaries of home remittances”. No new SDRP points are awarded; points earned up to June 30, 2026 stay redeemable until June 30, 2027, after which SDRP stops working.
- Effective: July 1, 2026 for both.
The free-of-cost requirement is in EPD Circular Letter No. 12 of 2026, dated July 02, 2026, which tells authorised dealers to keep running the scheme’s key features at their end. Tribune reports that the eligibility criteria raised the minimum qualifying amount from US$100 to US$200; that minimum is an attributed report only. The SDRP dates are SBP wording as quoted by Dawn, and operator 1LINK confirms the discontinuation.
Pasban Remittance Reward Scheme
SBP’s What’s New list dates the announcement to September 25, 2026, naming Rs16 billion in annual prizes; no page for the release text was found. The terms below are as reported by Dawn, APP and The News. The Pakistan Banks Association runs the scheme and the banks fund it, “with no cost to the national exchequer”. Each quarter carries Rs4bn across 2,521 prizes: one of Rs100 million, 20 of Rs25 million, 100 of Rs10 million and 2,400 of Rs1 million, split 50% GCC, 15% UK, 15% Europe, 10% North America and 10% others. A beneficiary qualifies by receiving at least US$100 in each of the three months of a quarter into an eligible bank account or wallet. Cash-over-counter and Roshan Digital Account remittances are excluded. The scheme starts on October 1, 2026 and the first draw is on January 15, 2027, covering October 1 to December 31, 2026.
What this means for you Money collected as cash over the counter does not count towards a Pasban quarter, on those reported terms: the transfer has to reach a bank account or wallet. Our pages on receiving money from abroad and bank codes cover the IBAN and the bank SWIFT code a sender is asked for.
