Indian remains top recipient of expatriate remittances
Tuesday, January 04, 2011
http://www.nriol.com/content/snippets/snippet1539.asp
India has recorded remittances of $55 billion so far in 2010, followed by China with $51 billion. Other leading recipient countries include Mexico, the Philippines, France, Germany and Bangladesh.
Remittances to developing countries are expected to reach $325 billion in 2010, up from $307 billion last year. Worldwide, remittances are projected to reach $440 billion by the end of the year, says the 'Migration and Remittances Factbook 2011' brought out by the World Bank.
The top remittances sending countries in 2009 were the US, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, Russia and Germany. There are recipient countries where the share of remittances in GDP is more than 25 per cent with Tajikistan topping the list with 35 per cent, followed by Tonga (28 per cent) and Lesotho (25 per cent).
According to the Factbook, remittances flows to India grew robustly in the last quarter of 2009 and the first quarter of 2010, but appear to have levelled off in the second quarter of 2010. Remittances to South Asia as a whole are estimated to have grown by 10.3 per cent in 2010, but are expected to grow at relatively slower rates of 5.1 per cent and 6.3 per cent in 2011 and 2012, respectively.
The top migrant country is the US, followed by Russia, Germany, Saudi Arabia and Canada. The top immigration countries relative to population are Qatar (87 per cent), Monaco (72 per cent), the UAE (70 per cent) and Kuwait (69 per cent).
