Jan-Sept. remittances top $ 5 b mark; turn positive YTD

Workers’ remittances continued to increase notably for the fourth consecutive month, recording a healthy growth of 36.1% in September 2020, year-on-year, to $703 million, the Central Bank said yesterday.  

This increase led the cumulative earnings in workers’ remittances to record a growth for the first time after experiencing cumulative declines for six months since March 2020, the Central Bank’s External Performance report for September said.  

Accordingly, workers’ remittances grew by 2.4% to $5,049 million during the period from January to September 2020, in comparison to the corresponding period of 2019. 

No tourist arrivals were recorded for the sixth consecutive month in September 2020 as all airports and sea ports remained closed for tourist arrivals in view of the COVID-19 pandemic. Hence, total tourist arrivals remained at 507,311 during the nine months ending September 2020, compared to 1,376,312 arrivals recorded during the corresponding period in 2019. 

Accordingly, cumulative earnings from tourism, which are estimated based on tourist arrivals, remained at $956 million during the year up to September 2020, thus recording a drop of 63.1% from the corresponding period of 2019.