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Personal remittances to foreigners residing in Saudi Arabia (expatriates), increased 5.93%, equivalent to 701 million riyals ($ 187 million), in May 2021, to record about 12.53 billion riyals ( 3.34 billion dollars), against 11.83 billion riyals (3.15 billion). dollars) in May 2020, according to the monthly bulletin issued by the Central Bank of Saudi Arabia (SAMA).
On a monthly basis, expatriate remittances fell 6% last May, equivalent to 748 million riyals ($ 199 million), against transfers of around 13.28 billion riyals (3.54 billion dollars) in April 2021.
According to Al Arabiya.net’s calculations, expatriate remittances amounted to 14% in 5 months of this year, registering around 63.22 billion riyals ($ 16.86 billion), compared to 55. 48 billion riyals (14.79 billion dollars) in 5 months of the year 2020.
It should be noted that remittances from foreigners residing in Saudi Arabia increased by 19.25% during the year 2020, reaching 149.69 billion riyals (39.92 billion dollars), against 125, 53 billion riyals ($ 33.47 billion) in 2019. The value of remittances in the past year was the highest. Since 2016, the equivalent of about 4 years.
Data from the Saudi Central Bank showed that remittances to the Saudis increased 72.48% in May 2021, to record about 5.13 billion riyals ($ 1.37 billion), from about 2.98 billion. billion riyals (794 million riyals) as of May 2020.
Remittances from the Saudis amounted to about 24.94 billion riyals ($ 6.65 billion) in 5 months of this year, compared to about 19.25 billion riyals ($ 5.13 billion) during of the corresponding period of 2020, an increase of 29.6%.
Transfers exceed expectations
The World Bank said in a previous briefing that despite the emerging Corona virus (Covid-19) pandemic, remittances remained resilient in 2020 as they saw a decline below what was indicated by expectations. previous ones.
The World Bank’s most recent Migration and Development Report showed that officially recorded remittance flows to low- and middle-income countries amounted to $ 540 billion in 2020, down just $ 1.00 billion. 6% of the total of $ 548 billion in 2019.
The decline in remittance flows recorded in 2020 was lower than the level recorded during the global financial crisis in 2009 (4.8%), and was also much lower than the decline in FDI flows to developing countries. low and middle income which, excluding flows to China – has fallen by more than 30%. As a result, remittances to low- and middle-income countries outnumbered foreign direct investment ($ 259 billion) and foreign development assistance ($ 179 billion) in 2020.
Among the main drivers of the constant influx of remittances are fiscal stimulus measures that have led to better-than-expected economic conditions in most host countries, a shift in cash flows to digital, and from informal to formal channels, and cyclical movements in oil prices and exchange rates.
The actual size of remittances which include formal and informal flows is believed to be larger than officially recorded data indicates, although there is still uncertainty as to the extent of the impact of the pandemic. Corona on informal flows.
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