Friday March 29th, 2024
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Egypt's Remittances Rank 1st in the Arab World and 7th Internationally

The United Arab Bank released a study that suggests Egypt receives more remittance than any other Arab country, and ranks 7th on the planet.

Staff Writer

Egypt has struggled to stabilise its economy in the wake of two uprisings and a devastated tourism sector, largely depending on remittances to stay afloat. So much so that Secretary General of the Union of Arab Banks, Wissam Hassan Fattouh, issued a statement on Sunday suggesting that Egypt ranks first in the Arab world and 7th internationally in terms of receiving remittances.

According to the statement issued by the UAB, Egypt has received $19.7bn in remittances from Egyptian workers in 2015, and has attracted 40.4 per cent of the total remittances sent to the Arab region.

Despite the large sums of remittance, the study also explains that the decline of oil prices since mid-2014 has negatively impacted the remittance to all Arab countries, adding that Egypt witnessed a decline during the last period as more than 71.5 per cent of these transfers came from the Gulf states. Supporting this assessment is the fact that the remittances sent to Egypt grew at a rate estimated at 9.7 per cent in 2014, but only 0.7 per cent in 2015.