Kuwait grapples with 29.67% yearly drop in expat remittances
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| KUWAIT CITY, Dec 25: The remittances sent abroad by expatriate workers in Kuwait saw a significant annual decline of 29.67% during the first nine months of 2023, reports Al-Seyassah daily. According to “Mubasher,” expatriate workers sent remittances totaling 2.979 billion dinars ($9.718 billion) in the mentioned period, compared to 4.237 billion dinars ($13.822 billion) in the same timeframe in 2022. The Central Bank of Kuwait’s quarterly statistics revealed a decline in transfers across three quarters in 2023. The most substantial drop occurred in the second quarter, with a 40.33% annual decrease to 892.1 million dinars. This was followed by a 31.46% decline in the third quarter to 867.7 million dinars, and a 17.34% decrease in the first quarter to 1.22 billion dinars. The deficit in the secondary income account in Kuwait’s balance of payments for the third quarter of 2023 decreased by approximately 30.56% to 891.6 million dinars compared to the same quarter in 2022. The overall current account surplus also decreased by about 11.28% to 4.72 billion dinars during the third quarter of 2023, compared to 5.32 billion dinars in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. In total, the Kuwaiti balance of payments deficit increased by 40.73%, reaching 464.4 million dinars compared to its level in the third quarter of 2022, which was approximately 330 million dinars. For the entire year of 2022, remittances from expatriate workers in Kuwait declined by about 2.17% to 5.406 billion dinars, compared to the previous year’s value of 5.526 billion dinars. As of the end of the second quarter of 2023, the population of the State of Kuwait is estimated to be approximately 4.824 million people, with expatriates constituting about 70% of the country’s demographic composition. Remittances play a crucial role as a source of household income for low- and middle-income countries, contributing to poverty reduction, improved nutrition outcomes, and higher school enrollment rates for children in disadvantaged families. |
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