India to retain top position in remittances with $ 80 bn: WB
India will retain its position as the world’s top recipient of remittances this year with its diaspora sending a whopping $ 80 billion back home, the World Bank said in a report on Saturday.
India is followed by China ($ 67 billion), Mexico and the Philippines ($ 34 billion each) and Egypt ($ 26 billion), according to the global lender.
With this, India has retained its top spot on remittances, according to the latest edition of the World Bank’s Migration and Development Brief.
The Bank estimates that officially- recorded remittances to developing countries will increase by 10.8 per cent to reach $ 528 billion in 2018. This new record level follows a robust growth of 7.8 per cent in 2017.
Global remittances, which include flows to high- income countries, are projected to grow by 10.3 per cent to $ 689 billion, it said.
Over the last three years, India has registered a significant flow of remittances from $ 62.7 billion in 2016 to $ 65.3 billion 2017. In 2017, remittances constituted 2.7 per cent of India’s GDP, it said.
The Bank said remittances to South Asia are projected to increase by 13.5 per cent to $ 132 billion in 2018, a stronger pace than the 5.7 per cent growth seen in 2017.
The upsurge is driven by stronger economic conditions in advanced economies, particularly the US, and the increase in oil prices having a positive impact on outflows from some GCC countries such as the UAE which reported a 13 per cent growth in outflows for the first half of 2018.
Bangladesh and Pakistan both experienced strong upticks of 17.9 per cent and 6.2 per cent in 2018, respectively, the Bank said.
For 2019, it is projected that remittances growth for the region will slow to 4.3 per cent due to a moderation of growth in advanced economies, lower migration to the GCC and the benefits from the oil price spurt dissipating.
The Gulf Cooperation Council ( GCC) is a regional inter- governmental political and economic bloc of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.