SWIFT Middle East community pioneers remittance solution

Published on 10 April 2007

Introducing a special interest session on SWIFT's solution for exchange houses and remittances at the SWIFT Regional Conference Middle East, Alex Bagin, relationship manager, Commercial Channels and Developing Markets, SWIFT, drew delegates' attention to the fact that the Middle East region is one of the main sources of global remittances.

Jose Antonio Garcia, Payments Systems Development Group, The World Bank, provided supporting evidence. The Gulf countries, he noted, are all represented in the top 20 remitting countries, with Saudi Arabia second in the world after the USA.

The impact of such remittances on the economies of receiving countries can be significant. Garcia noted that in certain countries, inbound remittances account for over 20% of GDP. He estimated that there is a 10-20% growth in remittances annually, though a large minority of the volume is unreported as it goes through unofficial channels. [Read More]