MUSCAT: Total remittances sent by workers in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries to foreign destinations reached $131.5 billion by the end of 2023, according to the latest data from the GCC Statistical Centre. The report highlighted a marginal decline of approximately $0.5 billion, or 0.4 percent, compared to 2022. This decrease follows notable growth in previous years, with remittances rising by 9.2 percent in 2021 and 3.8 percent in 2022. The GCC remains the world’s largest source of worker remittances, followed by the United States.

The share of remittances as a percentage of the GCC’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at current prices has also fluctuated in recent years. It declined from 8.1 percent in 2020 to six percent in 2022, before slightly rebounding to 6.2 percent in 2023. The GCC Statistical Centre, headquartered in Oman, was established in 2011 to serve as a unified source of official data and statistics for member states. — KUNA