Brain Booster for UPSC & State PCS Examination (Topic: World Bank's Report on Global Remittances)

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Topic: World Bank's Report on Global Remittances

World Bank's Report on Global Remittances

Why in News?

  • World Bank has released its latest Migration and Development Brief.

Key Highlights of the Report

  • Despite COVID-19, remittance flows remained resilient in 2020, registering a smaller decline than previously projected.
  • Officially recorded remittance flows to low- and middle-income countries reached $540 billion in 2020, just 1.6 percent below the 2019 total of $548 billion.
  • India received over USD83 billion in remittances in 2020, a drop of just 0.2 per cent from the previous year, despite a pandemic that devastated the world economy.
  • In 2019, India had received USD83.3 billion in remittances.
  • China is second in terms of global remittances in 2020. China received USD 59.5 billion in remittances in 2020.
  • India and China are followed by Mexico (USD42.8 billion), the Philippines (USD34.9 billion), Egypt (USD29.6 billion), Pakistan (USD26 billion), France (USD24.4 billion) and Bangladesh (USD21 billion).
  • Remittance outflow was the maximum from the United States (USD68 billion), followed by UAE (USD43 billion), Saudi Arabia (USD34.5 billion), Switzerland (USD27.9 billion), Germany (USD22 billion), and China (USD18 billion).
  • Remittances outflow from India in 2020 was USD7 billion, against USD7.5 billion in 2019, according to the World Bank.

Drivers for the Steady Flow

  • The main drivers for the steady flow included fiscal stimulus that resulted in betterthan-expected economic conditions in host countries.
  • Shift in flows from cash to digital and from informal to formal channels.
  • Cyclical movements in oil prices and currency exchange rates.

About the Report

  • It is prepared by the Migration and Remittances Unit, Development Economics (DEC)- the premier research and data arm of the World Bank.
  • The brief is produced twice a year.
  • The brief aims to provide an update on key developments in the area of migration and remittance flows and related policies over the past six months.
  • A remittance is money sent to another country by an immigrant.