Recent data revealed that Egypt ranked fifth in the world in expatriate remittances during the year 2021, recording an average annual increase of about $10.1 billion over the last 6 years.
According to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics in Egypt, based on World Bank data, Egypt ranked fifth in total incoming remittances from abroad with a value of $32 billion, after India, which recorded about $89 billion, and Mexico, which ranked second with a value of $32 billion. 54 billion dollars, then China is in third place with a value of 53 billion dollars, and the Philippines is in fourth place with a value of 37 billion dollars.
Data and figures prepared by Al-Arabiya.net indicate that the total remittances of Egyptians working abroad have increased to about $155 billion during the period from mid-2017 to the end of last year. It recorded about $26.4 billion in 2017-2018, then $25.2 billion in 2018-2019.
It rose to record $27.8 billion during 2019-2020, then $31.4 billion in 2020-2021, and continued to rise to $31.9 billion in 2021-2022, but it fell to $12 billion during the first half of the fiscal year 2022-2023.
The crisis of dollar scarcity that erupted since the first quarter of last year caused Egypt to face a series of crises, which prompted it to move intensively and take many measures, led by the Central Bank of Egypt making large reductions in the value of the pound against the US dollar.
Just as the Egyptian government relies on the offering program and the promotion of foreign direct investment flows, it also relies on remittances from Egyptians working abroad to bridge the dollar gap, with the expansion of commitments during the coming period.
The International Monetary Fund had expected, in a previous report, that the financing gap for Egypt would reach about $17 billion over the next 46 months. While Morgan Stanley analysts expected that the size of the financing gap in Egypt would reach between 23 and 24 billion dollars until the end of the next fiscal year, which ends on June 30, 2024.
On the other hand, the Egyptian government expected that, by pursuing a set of policies in addition to the support of the International Monetary Fund, and mobilizing funds from international partners, it would bridge this gap for the next four years, especially since Egypt had never been late in paying any previous obligations.
