Indian workers on top, sent home $ 111bln from Kuwait

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Saudi Arabia ranked first in the Arab world and second in the world, after the United States of America, in terms of restrictions on resident workers, in terms of value, reports Al-Rai daily. According to statistics by “Mubasher”, based on a World Bank report, America topped the list of countries in the world that exported the most remittances during 2022, with a value of $79.15 billion, and Saudi Arabia came in second place with 39.35 billion, followed by Switzerland in third place with 32 billion, then Germany with 25.6 billion, followed by China with 18.25 billion dollars.

The volume of transfers from Kuwait was about $17.74 billion during 2022, taking the sixth position in the world, and second in the Gulf after Saudi Arabia. In a report, the World Bank expected that officially registered remittance flows to low- and middle-income countries would increase by 1.4 percent to $656 billion in 2023. It is likely that economic activity in remittance-sending countries will decline, which will limit job opportunities and increase the wages of expatriates.

On the other hand, the report indicated that India was the largest country receiving remittances in 2022, as Indian workers outside the country transferred $111 billion, Mexico came in second place with a volume of remittances amounting to 61 billion, then China with about 51 billion, and the Philippines with 38.05 billion, France with 30.04 billion, and Pakistan with 30 billion, while Egypt ranked seventh in the world and first in the Arab world in terms of the most receiving countries for expatriate remittances, with a volume of remittances amounting to $28.33 billion.

The World Bank report noted that remittances of expatriate workers received a boost in 2022 due to the rise in oil prices in the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council, which helped increase the income of expatriates; also because of large financial transfers from the Russian Federation to the countries of Central Asia; and the strength of US labor markets and advanced economies of destination countries.

By region, remittance flows increased by 0.7 percent in East Asia and the Pacific, by 19 percent in Europe and Central Asia, by 11.3 percent in Latin America and the Caribbean, by 12.2 percent in South Asia, and by 6.1 percent. In sub-Saharan Africa, while remittance flows decreased by 3.8 percent to the Middle East and North Africa region. Remittance flows to the Middle East and North Africa region decreased by 3.8 percent, as this decline is due to a 10 percent decrease in remittances to Egypt, which reached $28.33 billion, compared to $31.5 billion in 2021.