Indians in GCC remit $29bn

Indians residing in the Gulf transferred home more than $29 billion in 2011 to emerge as the top remitters among expatriates in the oil-rich region.

Figures by the World Bank showed cash remittances by the nearly 15 million foreigners living in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) totaled around $74.5 billion in 2011, of which the UAE and Saudi Arabia accounted for more than 60 per cent.

Remittances by Indians, the largest foreign community in the 32-year-old Gulf economic, political and defence group, stood at $29.7 billion, accounting for nearly 40 per cent of the total expatriate cash transfers.

Egypt came second, receiving about $6.9 billion, followed by Pakistan with remittances of $6 billion, the Philippines with around $5 billion and Bangladesh with $3.1 billion.

The figures, published in the Saudi Arabic language daily Al Riyadh, showed Saudi Arabia retained its position as the largest source of expatriate remittances, which were estimated at about $28.6 billion in 2011.

Remittances by expatriates in the UAE, the second largest Arab economy, totaled around $18.2 billion while those from Kuwait stood at $11.8 billion.

Remittances were put at around $7.2 billion from Oman, $6.8 billion from Qatar and nearly $2.1 billion from Bahrain, the report showed.

It showed Qatar had the highest ratio of expatriates, standing at 1.3 million, nearly 76.8 per cent of the total population at the end of 2010.
The UAE had the second highest ratio, with an estimated 3.3 million foreigners, accounting for nearly 63 per cent of the total population.

Kuwait came third with 2.1 million expatriates, accounting for 58 per cent of the total.