Historical record of remittances by foreign workers to their countries, Iran's share unchanged

In its latest annual report, the World Bank reported a historic record in remittances from migrants or workers working abroad to their home countries.

Last year, more than $773 billion in remittances were recorded by workers working abroad to their home countries, an increase of nearly 8 percent compared to 2020. More than 78 percent of this figure relates to workers who are citizens of poor and developing countries.

Iranian workers' share of this figure is $1.3 billion, unchanged from previous years. This is while, for example, Egyptian citizens working abroad remitted $31.5 billion of their income to their country last year, which contributed 8 percent to the country's GDP.

About 9.5 million Egyptians work abroad, half of whom work in Saudi Arabia. Moroccans, Lebanese and Jordanians have also collectively sent more than $20 billion back to their countries, and even expatriate workers from the Gaza Strip have sent three times as much money back home as Iranian workers.

Over the past few years, the Islamic Republic has tried to utilize the capacity of the country's 5 million citizens living abroad to attract their capital and income, but has not been successful.

The arrest and exchange of dual nationals, a practice that has been repeatedly condemned by governments and human rights organizations around the world and described as "hostage-taking" and "extortion" aimed at "advancing political goals," along with widespread corruption and lack of economic transparency, the collapse of the rial's value, and sanctions, have fueled concerns among Iranians living abroad about sending their capital or income back to Iran.

Source: Radio Farda