Washington. Indians living abroad sent $120 billion to their home country last year i.e. in 2023. This is almost double the $66 billion received by Mexico during the same period. This was stated in a World Bank report released on Wednesday. China (50 billion dollars), Philippines (39 billion dollars) and Pakistan (27 billion dollars) are among the top five countries receiving remittances from abroad.
According to the World Bank report, after strong growth during 2021-2022, officially sent outward money or remittances to low and middle income countries (LMICs) declined in 2023 and reached $656 billion. In the case of India, remittances grew by 7.5 percent in 2023 and stood at $120 billion. This reflects the benefits of falling inflation and strong labor markets in the US. The US is the largest destination for skilled immigrants from India. Apart from this, the demand for skilled and semi-skilled workers in the Gulf countries (GCC) also had a positive impact on remittances.
In the case of Pakistan too, the demand abroad was good and this could have led to good remittances, but due to the weak internal situation due to the balance of payments crisis and economic difficulties, it fell by 12 percent to $ 27 billion in 2023. Whereas in 2022, it received $ 30 billion. According to the World Bank, the United Arab Emirates stood second after the US in terms of the source of money sent to India by migrants from abroad. 18 percent of the total remittances were received there.