Remittances to India dropped by nearly 9% in 2016: World Bank (from $68b to 62b)
Washington: Notwithstanding a significant 8.9% drop in remittances to India in 2016, the country retained the top spot among remittances receiving nations, according to a World Bank report.
The World Bank, in its latest report, said that the remittances to developing countries fell for a second consecutive year in 2016, a trend not seen in three decades. This was attributable mainly to the drop in oil prices and fiscal tightening in the oil producing countries in the West Asia, which has a significant Indian migrant population accounting for a large chunk of remittances.
India, while retaining its top spot as the world’s largest remittance recipient, led the decline with remittance inflows amounting to $62.7 billion last year, a decrease of 8.9% over $68.9 billion in 2015.
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In the latest edition of the migration and development brief, the bank estimates that officially recorded remittances to developing countries amounted to $429 billion in 2016, a decline of 2.4% over $440 billion in 2015. Global remittances, which include flows to high-income countries, contracted by 1.2% to $575 billion in 2016, from $582 billion in 2015.
Low oil prices and weak economic growth in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and the Russian Federation are taking a toll on remittance flows to South Asia and Central Asia, while weak growth in Europe has reduced flows to North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa, it said.
The decline in remittances, when valued in US dollars, was made worse by a weaker euro, British pound and Russian ruble against the US dollar. As a result, many large remittance-receiving countries saw sharp declines in remittance flows.
India was the largest remittance recipient followed closely by China ($61 billion), the Philippines ($29.9 billion), Mexico ($28.5 billion) and Pakistan ($19.8 billion), making up the top five. As a share of the gross domestic product (GDP), however, the top five recipients were Kyrgyz Republic, Nepal, Liberia, Haiti, and Tonga.
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