India remains the world’s top recipient of remittances with overseas Indians sending $79bn back home in 2018, according to a report by the World Bank.
India was followed by China ($67bn), Mexico ($36bn), the Philippines ($34bn), and Egypt ($29bn), the World Bank’s latest Migration and Development Brief stated.
“Remittances grew by more than 14% in India, where a flooding disaster in Kerala likely boosted the financial help that migrants sent to families,” it said.
Over the last three years, India has registered a significant flow of remittances from $62.7bn in 2016 to $65.3bn 2017.
In Pakistan, remittance growth was moderate in 2018 (7%), while in Bangladesh, remittances grew 15%.
Remittances to South Asia grew 12% to $131bn in 2018, up from the 6% growth in 2017.
Strong economies
According to the report, remittances to low-and middle-income countries hit a record high of $529bn in 2018, an increase of 9.6% over the previous record high of $483bn in 2017.
Global remittances, which include flows to high-income countries, reached $689bn in 2018, up from $633bn in 2017, it said.
“The overall increase was driven by a strong economy and employment situation in the US and a rebound in outward flows from some Gulf Cooperation Council countries (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the UAE) and the Russian Federation.”
