World Bank: remittance costs are in decline
According to the latest calculations published in the World Bank’s Migration and Development Report, against the backdrop of the continuing growth of the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic crisis, remittances from migrant workers will decrease by 14% by 2021, compared to the level achieved in 2019 before the COVID-19 outbreak.
Remittances to low and middle income countries are projected to decline by 7% to $508 billion by 2020, compared to the level achieved in 2019 before the COVID-19 outbreak. It is expected to decline by a further 7.5% to $470 billion in 2021. Critical factors contributing to the decline in remittance costs include sluggish economic growth and low employment levels in host countries, low oil prices and the fall in the currencies of sending countries to the US dollar.
These declining remittance costs in 2020 and 2021 will affect all regions, with the deepest decline expected in Europe and Central Asia (16% and 8%, respectively), followed by East Asia and the Pacific (11% and 4%), the Middle East and North Africa (8% and 8%), sub-Saharan Africa (9% and 6%), South Asia (4% and 11%), and Latin America and the Caribbean (0.2% and 8%).
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