Kuwait: Expat remittances decrease by 22%

Kuwait City: Remittances of expats in Kuwait decreased by 21.96 per cent during the second quarter of this year, Al Rai reported.

During the first quarter of this year, expats sent around 1.35 billion Kuwait dinars, meanwhile the amount went down during the second quarter to 1.056 billion Kuwait dinars.

The data issued by the Centre Bank of Kuwait (CBK), showed that the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic has had an effect on the flow of money between Kuwait and the expats’ home countries. According to statistics from CBK, monthly bank deposits decreased by 235 million dollars.

Job losses

By the end of the 2019-2020 fiscal year, there was a 3.7 per cent increase in remittances compared to the previous year, as the total rose to 4.47 billion Kuwait dinars, compared to 4.3 billion Kuwaiti dinars.

As many expats leave Kuwait for good and many lose their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is likely that by the end of the 2020-2021 fiscal year remittance would have dropped compared to previous years.

As the largest expat community in Kuwait, around 1.3 million, Indians sent money from Kuwait back to India that totaled around 1.9 billion Kuwaiti dinars in 2019, according to the Washington Post.