Retaining its spot as the world’s top recipient of remittances, migrant workers from India are set to send home a record USD 100 billion in 2022, despite global headwinds like rising prices.
In its latest Migration and Development Brief, World Bank said remittance flows to India will rise 12 percent, putting its inflows ahead of China, Mexico and the Philippines.
“Growth in remittance flows is estimated at 9.3 percent for Latin America and the Caribbean, 3.5 percent in South Asia, 2.5 percent in the Middle East and North Africa, and 0.7 percent in East Asia and the Pacific. In 2022, for the first time a single country, India is on track to receive more than USD 100 billion in yearly remittances,” the World Bank said in a statement.
Not just in India, remittances to South Asia grew an estimated 3.5 percent to USD 163 billion in 2022. However, there is a large disparity across countries, from India’s projected 12 percent gain to Nepal’s 4 percent increase, to an aggregate decline of 10 percent for the region’s remaining countries.
According to World Bank, the easing of flows reflects the discontinuation of special incentives some governments had introduced to attract flows during the pandemic, as well as preferences for informal channels offering better exchange rates.
Remittances to India were enhanced by wage hikes and a strong labor market in the United States and other Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, it adds.
