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Moroccans living abroad have sent around 7.4 billion dollars to their loved owns in the Kingdom in 2018 only, the World Bank said in a report on Migration and Remittances. Conducted by the Global Knowledge Partnership on Migration and Development (KNOMAD), an initiative created by the World Bank, the survey ranks Morocco second in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
Indeed, the Kingdom comes ahead of Lebanon ($7.2 billion), Jordan ($4.4 billion), Yemen ($3.4 billion), Palestine ($2.6 billion), Iran ($1.4 billion) and Iraq ($1.1 billion).
In North Africa, Egypt tops the list, receiving $28.9 billion from its nationals living abroad. The country is followed by Morocco, Tunisia with $2 billion and Algeria with $1.9 billion. In Africa, the Kingdom is ranked third, ahead of Egypt and Nigeria, which is the top remittance recipient in sub-Saharan Africa with $24.3 billion.
Growth of remittances to the MENA region is expected to continue
The World Bank report indicates that remittance inflows represented 6.2% of Morocco’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2018. In the MENA region, money sent by Palestinians living broad contributed to 17.7% of Palestine’s GDP in 2018, topping the list that contains Lebanon (12.7%), Yemen (11.7%), Egypt (11.6%), Jordan (10.4%), Tunisia (4.9%), Algeria (1.0%) and Iraq (0.5%).
In its report, the World Bank reveals that remittances to low- and middle-income countries «reached a record high» in 2018. In general, $529 billion was sent to these countries during the same year.
In the Middle East and North Africa, the World Bank states that remittances «grew 9 percent to $62 billion in 2018».
«The growth was driven by Egypt’s rapid remittance growth of around 17 percent», the same source said, indicating that this «growth of remittances to the region is expected to continue, albeit at a slower pace of around 3 percent in 2019 due to moderating growth in the Euro Area». The same source pointed out that sending money within the Middle East adn North Africa remains less expensive that sending it from outside.
In the world, the top remittance recipients were India with $79 billion, followed by China ($67 billion), Mexico ($36 billion), the Philippines ($34 billion), and Egypt ($29 billion). «Global remittances, which include flows to high-income countries, reached $689 billion in 2018, up from $633 billion in 2017», the World Bank concluded.
