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Sameh Saeid
Doha
With its foreign workers and expatriates sending $11.4 billion to their home countries last year, Qatar finds itself placed among the top 15 countries in terms of remittance volume, and fourth on the list of GCC countries after Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait, according to a recent report of the World Bank.
Sudhesh Giriyan, the Head of Operation at Express Money, said the volume of money being remitted from Qatar remains unaffected by the falling oil prices."Last year the remittance industry grew by 1.1 percent and this figure will surge in coming years due to the continuation of projects related to the FIFA World Cup 2022," he told Qatar Tribune.
Remittance industry is one of the most booming sectors globally, with a value of $600 billion a year, an amount that even exceeds the total annual aid to developing countries.
"As migrants shuffle around the globe, they have family members and friends back home who they continue to support through cross-border money transfers, called remittance," Giriyan noted.
"Remittance is very critical for many countries as it constitutes a big ratio of their national income, including Somalia 37 percent followed by Nepal 27 percent, the Philippines 15 percent and India 3.9 percent," he said. Giriyan said, adding that the maximum remittance is generated from the United States with a value of $131billion, around 22% of remittances globally, followed by Saudi Arabia ($45 billion) and the UAE ($30 billion), annually.
The Middle East is one of the most important regions in sending and receiving remittances globally, as workers in these countries send $120 billion annually to their home countries, 80 percent of which is generated in the GCC region alone."The remittance generated from the GCC region constitutes 65 percent of the remittances received by Pakistan and Bangladesh followed by the Philippines 60 percent and India 50 percent," he said.
Countries in the Middle East receive around $49 billion in remittances every year with the biggest receiver being Egypt ($19 billion) followed by Jordan and Lebanon, he added.
India is the biggest receiver of remittance globally with a value of around $70 billion, 50 percent of which comes from the GCC, followed by China $55 billion, the Philippines $28 billion and Mexico $25 billion, Giriyan noted.
