Remittance inflows declining in
lower-middle income countries

Mahfuz Emran: Due to the Russia-Ukraine war, the growth rate of remittances has officially declined in low and middle-income countries. The World Bank expects remittances to increase by 4.2 percent to $630 billion in 2022. However, the growth rate of remittance flow in these countries in 2021 was 7.6 percent low. As a result, the rate of remittance flow is going to be reduced by almost half.
In Bangladesh too, the remittance flow will be reduced by 2 percent this year (2022). Last year (2021) which was 2.2 percent lower. At that time, despite the epidemic, remittances of $22 billion came. But now that there is no Corona crisis, Russia-Ukraine war has put the world in crisis.
This information was given in the latest ‘Migration and Development Brief’ published on Thursday (May 12) from the head office of the World Bank in Washington.
The World Bank says remittances to South Asia rose 7.9 percent to $156 billion in 2021. However, when the epidemic began in early 2020, large numbers of South Asian migrants returned to their homeland. Even then, the remittance flow in this region was good in 2021.
At that time, the growth rate of remittance flow in India was 6 percent and in Pakistan it was 20 percent. But the World Bank estimates that remittance growth will slow to 4.4 percent in 2022.
Meanwhile, the opposite situation has been seen in Ukraine. The remittance flow has increased in the country. Which is the highest among Europe and Central Asia. Remittances to Ukraine are expected to grow by more than 20 percent this year. However, remittance inflows will decline in many Central Asian countries, the main source of which is Russia. Rising food, fertilizer and oil prices could increase poverty in these countries with food security risks.
On the other hand, remittance inflows were strongest in 2021 in Latin America and the Caribbean. The rate of remittance flow in this region was 25.3%. Sub-Saharan Africa had a remittance inflow of 14.1%, Europe and Central Asia 6.8%, Middle East and North Africa 6.8% and South Asia 7.9%.
With the exception of China, remittances to East Asia and the Pacific fell 3.3 percent. Since 2015, remittances have been the largest source of global funding for low- and middle-income countries.
Mishal Rutkovsky, the World Bank’s global director (social protection and jobs), said Russia’s aggression in Ukraine had created a major humanitarian, immigration and refugee crisis. This has created risks in the world economy.
He added that Ukrainian families in Asia were economically disadvantaged by the war. It is important to increase social security and food security to protect them. Otherwise, it will become a threat to protect people from the threat of poverty.