The World Bank in its latest report has said that India will retain its position as the world's top recipient of remittances this year with its diaspora sending a whopping $80 billion back home. Report highlighted that India is followed by China ($67 billion), Mexico and the Philippines ($34 billion each) and Egypt ($26 billion).
The report also mentioned that over the last three years, India has registered a significant flow of remittances from $62.7 billion in 2016 to $65.3 billion 2017. In 2017, remittances constituted 2.7% of India's GDP. Besides, it estimates that officially-recorded remittances to developing countries will increase by 10.8% to reach $528 billion in 2018. This new record level follows a robust growth of 7.8% in 2017. Global remittances, which include flows to high-income countries, are projected to grow by 10.3% to $689 billion. Meanwhile, it stated that remittances to South Asia are projected to increase by 13.5% to $132 billion in 2018, a stronger pace than the 5.7% growth seen in 2017.
The upsurge is driven by stronger economic conditions in advanced economies, particularly the US, and the increase in oil prices having a positive impact on outflows from some GCC countries such as the UAE which reported a 13% growth in outflows for the first half of 2018. For the Year 2019, the bank said it is expecting that remittances growth for the region will slow to 4.3% on account of a moderation of growth in advanced economies, lower migration to the GCC and the benefits from the oil price spurt dissipating.