Washington — Remittances to Algeria made by the diaspora amounted to 1.9 billion against 2 billion transferred in 2017, according to the latest World Bank report on migration and development published in Washington.

The amount of transfers recorded last year represents 1% of GDP, while the WB in December forecast remittances to Algeria at 2.15 billion dollars (USD billion) in 2018, i.e. 1 .1% of GDP.

From 2013 to 2017, remittances to Algeria stabilized around 2 billion dollars, according to data already released by the WB.

The flows received last year, however, remain below the record of 2.4 billion dollars recorded in 2004.

It should be noted that the drop in remittances to Algeria was recorded in the wake of an increase in transfers to countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

Remittances to countries in this region rose by 9% in 2018, to $62 billion, a development mainly due to the rapid increase in transfers to Egypt, of around 17%.

Egypt captured 28.9 billion dollars, Morocco (7.4 billion) and Tunisia (2 billion).

This positive momentum should continue beyond 2018, but at a slower pace, around 3% in 2019, hampered by the slowdown in activity in the euro zone, predicts the WB.

In 2018, remittances to low- and middle-income countries reached an all-time high in 2018, at $529 billion in 2018, up 9.6% from the previous high of 2017 at $483 billion. billions of dollars.

Also accounting for remittances to high-income countries, global transfers amounted to $689 billion in 2018, up from $683 billion the previous year.

Regionally, this increase ranges from almost 7% in East Asia and the Pacific to 12% in South Asia.

The recovery of the economy and the employment market in the United States and the rebound in flows from certain countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council and the Russian Federation underpin this overall development, comments the WB.

At the top of the beneficiary countries, India, with 79 billion dollars, followed by China (67 billion), Mexico (36 billion), the Philippines (34 billion) and Egypt (29 billion).

Remittances to sub-Saharan Africa soared by almost 10% in 2018, to $46 billion, on the back of strong performance in high-income countries.

In terms of gross domestic product, Comoros takes the lion's share, ahead of Gambia, Lesotho, Cabo Verde, Liberia, Zimbabwe, Senegal, Togo, Ghana and Nigeria.