Dubai: The US dollar's continued rise against a number of Asian and European currencies has caused remittances from the UAE to “spike”, a money transfer operator told Gulf News.
Remittance transactions from the UAE to India, Bangladesh, Philippines, Pakistan, Malaysia, Japan, Indonesia, South Africa and Europe, among others, rose significantly in the last three months, according to Sudhesh Giriyan, COO of Xpress Money.
Money flows to India and Philippines, in particular, went up by 20 per cent.
The Indian rupee’s value against the US dollar has been falling since December. As of last week, the Indian currency depreciated to 68.68 against the greenback. The Philippine peso has been on a downward path as well, breaching the 13 to Dh1 level last month.
India and the Philippines are among the largest recipients of remittances from expatriates around the world. As of last year, money transfers to India and the Philippines reached $72 billion and $30 billion, respectively, according to the World Bank.
“We have been seeing continuous surge in remittances in the last three months,” said Giriyan.
“The Indian currency is not the only one seeing the downward trend. Many Asian and European currencies are also following the trail.”
“In the case of the Philippines, OFWS (overseas Filipino workers) have been taking advantage of the weakening peso and are remitting money back home. We see a similar remittance trend with the Philippines as we see with India – around 20 per cent increase over the last three months,” Giriyan told Gulf News.
Giriyan attributed the depreciation of many Asian and European currencies to the recent devaluation of the Yuan, fall in oil prices and recent interest rate adjustment by the United States Federal Reserve.
