Moroccans living abroad sent $11.8 billion back home in 2023. The World Bank said the pace of remittances remained strong, especially following the tragic September 2023 earthquake. Morocco's remittances reached $11.8 billion in 2023, increasing by 5.2%, according to data shared by the World Bank's June edition of the Migration and Development Brief. These figures make of the North African Kingdom, the second largest recipient of remittances in the MENA region, after Egypt. «Remittance inflows to the country have consistently exceeded FDI (foreign direct investment) inflows, and have been a vital part of Morocco's economy, accounting for 8.2 percent of the country's GDP», the World Bank said in its report. It noted that throughout 2023, the pace of remittances from Moroccans living abroad «remained strong», especially after the September 2023 tragic earthquake that hit the High Atlas Mountains in western Morocco and killed thousands. «This is in line with findings of studies that demonstrate the counter-cyclical nature of remittance flows, which tend to increase in the aftermath of natural disasters in migrants' home countries», explained the report. MENA remittances affected in 2023 As for remittances to the Middle East and North Africa in general, the report emphasized that in 2023, remittances declined by 15% to USD 55 billion, compared to a decline of 3.2% in 2022, primarily due to a sharp drop in inflows to Egypt. The World Bank's prospects suggest that remittances to the «Middle East and North Africa will be affected by the difficult situation facing the region's oil-importing countries, such as Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, and Tunisia». In contrast, the region's oil exporters, such as Iraq and Algeria, will «benefit from the rise in hydrocarbon prices», reads the report. In General, the report reassures that remittances to the MENA region in general are expected to rebound by 4.3% in 2024. Globally, while official remittances to low- and middle-income countries grew strongly in 2021-2022, they declined in 2023 to an estimated USD 656 billion. The modest 0.7% growth rate in remittances reflects large variations in their growth across regions, but they remained a critical source of external financing for developing countries in 2023, boosting the current accounts of many of these food-insecure and debt-burdened countries. In 2023, remittances surpassed foreign direct investment (FDI) and official development assistance (ODA). Remittances to low- and middle-income countries are expected to grow at a faster pace of 2.3% in 2024, although this growth will be uneven across regions.
