Remittances to developing countries to hit $450b in 2017—W’Bank
…India leads with $65b as Nigeria expects $22bn
The World Bank’s Migration and Development Brief (MDB) released on Thursday has suggested that remittances to low-and middle-income countries, including Nigeria would recover in 2017 after two consecutive years of decline.
According to the report, officially recorded remittances to developing countries are expected to grow by 4.8 per cent to $450 billion for 2017.
Global remittances, which include flows to high-income countries, are projected to grow by 3.9 per cent to $596 billion.
Stronger growth in the European Union, Russian Federation, and the United States were the main reasons for the recovery in remittance flows is driven by relatively
As a result, those regions likely to see the strongest growth in remittance inflows this year are Sub-Saharan Africa, Europe and Central Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean.
Details show that in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, fiscal tightening due to low oil prices and policies discouraging recruitment of foreign workers will dampen remittance flows to East and South Asia.
Leading in remittance recipients is India which retains its top spot, with remittances expected to total $65 billion this year, followed by China ($61 billion), the Philippines ($33 billion), Mexico ($31 billion) and Nigeria (($22 billion).
World Bank also noted that due to improving global economy, remittances to low-and middle-income countries are expected to grow modestly by 3.5 per cent in 2018, to $466 billion. Global remittances will grow by 3.4 per cent to $616 billion in 2018.
The global average cost of sending 200 remained stagnant at 7.2 per cent in the third quarter of 2017.This is significantly higher than the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target of three per cent.
Sub-Saharan Africa, with an average of 9.1 per cent, remains the highest-cost region, the report averred.
