UAE remittances business set for rebound

UAE remittances business set for rebound

The global slump will wipe $110 billion from the money sent home by around one billion workers overseas in 2020.





Remittances from the UAE, one of the world's leading source markets, is forecast to drop by 10 per cent this year, at a scale far lower than the worldwide average decline of 20 per cent, underscoring the resilience of the Arab world's second largest economy, forex experts said.

The World Bank estimates the global slump will wipe 20 per cent - or $110 billion - from the money sent home by around one billion workers overseas in 2020 due to the economic crisis triggered by the pandemic and shutdowns.

While the total value of global remittances reached $714 billion, remittances by migrant workers reached an all-time high of $554 billion in 2019, the World Economic Forum said. The predicted fall in remittances this year will well exceed the $16.2 billion fall recorded in 2009 following the global financial crisis, the WEF said.

Rashed A. Al Ansari, CEO, Al Ansari Exchange, said the coronavirus pandemic has managed to leave a significant impact across most of the industries and the remittance and currency exchange sector is not excluded.

"Although the World Bank and other