Rabat- The World Bank expects remittances from Moroccans living abroad (MREs) to reach about USD MAD85 billion ($9.3 billion) by the end of the current year.
The transactions are expected to record an increase of 25% compared to last year, representing about 7.4% of Morocco’s GDP.
In a statement, the World Bank called on the Moroccan government to “facilitate these transfers” to support economic recovery, stressing that they represent a “real lifesaver” for families who have suffered from Covid-19 repressions.
The data compiled by the World Bank indicated that transactions to developing countries in the Middle East and North Africa will grow by an estimated 9.7% in 2021, reaching about U$62 billion.
In terms of rankings, Egypt was placed first in the MENA region, with transactions reaching about $33.3 billion, ahead of Morocco with a total of $9.3 billion, and Lebanon with $6.6 billion.
Driven by growth in the Eurozone, remittances to Maghreb countries, including Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia increased by 15.2% during this year.
However, the figures decreased in a number of countries, including Djibouti with a drop of 14.8%, followed by Jordan with a drop of 6.9%, and Lebanon down by 0.3%.
The World Bank report comes to confirm previous similar data. Bank Al-Maghrib (BAM), Morocco’s central bank, forecasted a similarly positive overview regarding the remittances from Moroccans residing abroad (MREs).
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The bank said that MREs remittances could reach MAD 71.9 billion ($7.99 billion) this year, showing strong resilience in 2020 despite the COVID-19 crisis.
Additionally, a study from the Union of Arab Banks in September ranked Morocco as the second country in terms of remittances received in the Arab world in 2020.
The study also featured Morocco among the top 10 countries in the Arab world in terms of remittances in the past year.
