Official data shows during the past ten years the total expatriates remittances from Kuwait was about 50.75 billion dinars, and the figures for the period from 2011 until the end of 2021 shows fluctuations as in 2011 it was the lowest at 3.54 billion dinars while the highest level ever was during 2021 at about 5.52 billion dinars.
The data, according to a local Arabic daily shows the past 11 years witnessed a noticeable and varied changes in the remittances of expatriates, as they rose and fell due to crises of different ways and sizes. In 2011, which witnessed hot political events in many countries, the value of remittances from Kuwait reached about 3.54 billion dinars, and rose by 21%, by more than 700 million dinars, to 4.28 billion dinars in 2012.
In 2016, the remittances of expatriates from Kuwait recorded about 4.56 billion dinars, and these remittances declined by about 9% in the immediate following year, equivalent to 421 million dinars, and the value of remittances from expatriates in 2017 became about 4.14 billion dinars.
To the contrary, the Corona period (2020/2021) witnessed an increasing growth in the volume of remittances compared to the year before the start of the pandemic — a record of 5.29 billion dinars, compared to 4.46 billion dinars in 2019.
Although 2021 also witnessed some precautionary measures, the volume of remittances continued to rise again to set a new record, as it increased by 23.7%, exceeding one billion dinars, compared to the volume of remittances immediately before the start of the pandemic.
In a related context, the exchange companies sector is closely linked with the remittances of expatriates, as the sector companies are the main outlet for these remittances.
According to the available data on the sector’s performance from 2014 until the end of 2021 (8 years), it achieved total revenues from its operations of 493.4 million dinars, and that 77% of the revenues of these companies come from the currency sale activity, which accounted for 379.49 million dinars of the sector’s total revenues during that period, while other revenues, which include transfer fees and the rest of the revenues without bank interest, accounted for 110.9 million dinars from the revenues of that period, while the bank interest income amounted to only 3 million dinars.
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