Yemeni expatriate remittances have not returned to pre-Corona levels
English - Saturday 15 May 2021 الساعة 06:25 pm
Aden, NewsYemen, Exclusive:
The Cash Aid Union in Yemen said that remittances from Yemeni expatriates have not returned to pre-Corona pandemic levels.
In its recent update, "Remittance Tracker - April 2021", the Union indicated that remittances from expatriates continue to be relatively stable.
According to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, migrants send an average of 15% of their earnings, and remittances often account for 60% of household income.
The United Nations Development Program had expected a decline of 70% of the remittances of Yemenis abroad, which are estimated at three and a half billion dollars, this year, driven by the economic recession of the Corona pandemic.
Remittances from expatriates accounted for 24% of GDP in 2017, providing a means of survival for millions of Yemenis who lost their livelihoods due to the war that the Houthi militia imposed on Yemenis.
The remittances of Yemeni expatriates are among the most important sources of external financing, exceeding $ 3 billion annually, surpassing the revenues from oil and gas exports that stalled during the war.
Yemen ranked fifth out of 10 labor-exporting countries in the MENA region in the absolute value index of expatriate remittances.
It is estimated that the number of Yemeni expatriates in the Gulf countries is 946,000, of whom 800,000 are in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The remittances of Yemeni workers from Saudi Arabia accounted for 61% of the total remittances of Yemeni expatriates abroad in 2016, followed by the UAE with 18%, while remittances from Kuwait and Qatar accounted for 10% of the total remittances, and 11% of the total remittances came from America, Bahrain and other countries.
