Expat Remittances Jump 7 Percent to SR68bn in 5 Months
RIYADH: Expatriates’ remittances from Saudi Arabia to their respective countries rose by 7 percent in the first five months of the current year to reach SR68.4 billion compared to SR64.2 billion in the same period last year, according to a financial report.
Month-on-month basis, the remittances of the expatriates grew by a margin of 0.7 percent to SR13.6 billion in May (2015) compared to SR13.5 billion in April of the same year, the report published by the local media said.
Year-on-year basis, the remittances of the foreign workers grew by 9 percent in May 2015 compared to the same period last year (May 2014), which stood at SR12.5 billion, the report said.
Meanwhile, Saudis’ remittances fell during May 2015 by 4 percent to SR7.7 billion compared with SR8.02 billion in April of the same year, while increased by 51 percent compared to May 2014 which reached SR5.1 billion, the report said.
إعلان
In general, personal remittances of both expatriates and Saudis dropped marginally by 1 percent to SR21.3 billion in May, 2015, compared to SR21.5 billion in April but, however, increased by 21 percent to May figures in 2014 (SR17.6 billion), the report said.
Based on the latest data released by the Central Department of Statistics and Information (CDSI), the number of expats residing in the Kingdom reached 10.07 million by the end of 2014, or 33 percent of the Kingdom’s total population, whereas the Saudi citizens constituted the remaining 67 percent of population, or 20.7 million.