According to the World Bank’s “Migration and Development Brief 35: Recovery COVID-19 Crisis Through a Migration Lens” report, the global economy’s remittance flows expanded by 6.4% in 2021 to $751 billion in comparison with $706 billion in 2020. The World Bank commented that remittance flows registered a recovery in 2021, after having proved resilient during the year 2020 (dropping only by 1.7% notwithstanding the sharp global depression). In details, remittance figures now outpace official development assistance figures by a ratio of three to one, and when excluding China they stand 1.5 times higher than foreign direct investment figures. The increase in remittance figures comes in spite of the drop in the international migrant stock, especially in the GCC region, one of the top destinations for migrants. Always in this regard, the report pinpointed that whilst all regions reported a growth in the size of remittances, the Latin America and the Caribbean region registered a remarkable double digit growth figure (21.6%). The report pointed out, however, that the cost of sending remittances remained high at 6.4%. In figures, the World Bank foresaw that the majority of flows in the year 2021 will be directed to the South Asia ($159 billion; <27.0%>) and East Asia & Pacific ($131 billion; <22.2%>) regions. In this context, the report anticipated remittances to LMICs to recover from the 1.8% drop registered in 2020 to a 7.3% growth in 2021 to $589 billion and a 2.7% growth in 2022 to $605 billion. On a regional basis, the World Bank estimated that remittance inflows to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region rose by 1.8% in 2020 to $56 billion, and projected these flows to further increase by 10.7% in 2021 to $62 billion and by 3.2% in 2022 to $64 billion. The report attributed the remarkable growth in remittance flows to the MENA region in 2021 to the upsurge in oil prices.

Locally, the report estimated remittance flows to Lebanon at $6.6 billion in 2021 ($6.2 billion in 2020), positioning the country 3^rd in the MENA region in terms of the absolute size of remittance inflows, only trailing Egypt ($33.3 billion) and Morocco ($9.3 billion). Lebanon, however, ranked 1^st in the MENA region and second globally (behind Tonga “43.9%”) in terms of remittance contribution to GDP, which stood at 34.8% in 2021, followed by the West Bank & Gaza (16.7% of GDP). Furthermore, the World Bank commented that the average cost of sending remittances to Lebanon from high-income OECD nations remains elevated, with Lebanon appearing in four amongst the five most expensive corridors.