Egypt was the world’s fifth top recipient of remittances in 2018, with inflows from Egyptians working abroad reaching USD 29 bn by the end of the year, up 17% y-o-y from USD 18.2 bn last year, according to the World Bank’s Migration and Development Brief (pdf). The increase in flows to Egypt led MENA remittances to grow 9.1% y-o-y. “Beyond 2018, the growth of remittances to the MENA region is expected to continue, albeit at a slower pace of around 3% due to moderating growth in the [eurozone].”

The cost of sending home remittances in the MENA region is now lower than the global average, after declining slightly to 6.9% in 4Q2018 from 7.4% in 4Q2017, the report notes. The global average during the final quarter of last year was 7%. Costs are considerably lower when sending from GCC countries to Egypt and Jordan (sometimes falling below 5%) than when sending from high-income OECD countries to Lebanon, “which continues to be in the double digits.”