Egypt was the world’s fifth top recipient of remittances in 2018

Egypt was the world’s fifth top recipient of remittances in 2018, with inflows from Egyptians working abroad reaching USD 29 bn by the end of the year, up 17% y-o-y from USD 18.2 bn last year, according to the World Bank’s Migration and Development Brief (pdf). The increase in flows to Egypt led MENA remittances to grow 9.1% y-o-y. “Beyond 2018, the growth of remittances to the MENA region is expected to continue, albeit at a slower pace of around 3% due to moderating growth in the [eurozone].”

The cost of sending home remittances in the MENA region is now lower than the global average, after declining slightly to 6.9% in 4Q2018 from 7.4% in 4Q2017, the report notes. The global average during the final quarter of last year was 7%. Costs are considerably lower when sending from GCC countries to Egypt and Jordan (sometimes falling below 5%) than when sending from high-income OECD countries to Lebanon, “which continues to be in the double digits.”