Report: Foreign remittances from Saudi down 20% in 4 years

The money sent by expatriate workers in Saudi Arabia to their home countries has declined by 20 per cent over the past four years and is expected to decline even further this year, Saudi Arabia’s Okaz newspaper reported.

The paper said it has monitored official data which showed that the total remittances of non-Saudis declined from 156.86 billion riyals ($41.79 billion) in 2015 to 125.53 billion riyals ($33.44 billion) in 2019.

It has fallen further this year, having dropped 20 per cent to reach 9.79 billion riyals ($2.61 billion) in April compared to 12.22 billion riyals ($3.26 billion) in March.

Since 2010, foreign remittance increased for six consecutive years, from 98.81 billion riyals ($26.3 billion) to 156.86 billion riyals ($41.8 billion) in 2015, an rise of 58.75 per cent, Okaz reported.

The world’s largest oil exporter is suffering from historically low oil prices, while measures to fight the new coronavirus -including the closure of borders – are likely to curb the pace and scale of economic reforms launched by Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.

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