Lebanon is the 32nd largest destination in the world
The World Bank estimated remittances of expatriates to Lebanon at USD 6.37 billion in 2023, which is a decrease of 1% from USD 6.44 billion in 2022, after an increase of 1.3% in 2022 from the previous year.
Moreover, the World Bank has revised its estimates of expatriate remittance flows to Lebanon to USD 6.44 billion in 2022 from a previous forecast of USD 6.45 billion. By comparison, the bank estimated that remittances of expatriates to developing countries increased by 3.8%, and they decreased to Arab countries by 5.7% in 2023.
Based on these figures, Lebanon will be the 32nd largest destination in the world for Diaspora remittances and the 22nd largest among developing economies in 2023. Remittances of expatriates to Lebanon were higher than those to Serbia (USD 6.1 billion), Tajikistan (USD 5.7 billion), Sri Lanka (USD 5.4 billion), and lower than those to Honduras (USD 8.8 billion), El Salvador (USD 8.1 billion) and Russia (USD 6.8 billion) among developing economies. Lebanon was also the third largest destination for expatriate remittances among 16 Arab countries, behind Egypt (USD 24.2 billion) and Morocco (USD 12.1 billion). The results of this survey were reported in the Byblos Bank Group's Weekly Economic Report "Lebanon This Week".
Diaspora Remittances to Lebanon constitute 0.7% of the total remittances of expatriates globally in 2023 compared to 0.8% in 2022. These remittances account for 1% of total remittances of expatriates to developing economies in 2023 and 2022, while they constitute 10.1% of total remittances to Arab countries in 2023 compared to 9.6% in 2022.
Moreover, the World Bank has estimated that expatriate remittances to Lebanon will cancel out the equivalent of 27.5% of GDP in 2023, which constitutes the fourth highest percentage globally, lagging behind Tajikistan (48.2% of GDP), Tonga (40.6% of GDP), and Samoa (31.9% of GDP). Remittances from expatriates to Lebanon amounted to 14% of GDP in 2019, 26.7% of GDP in 2020, 32.6% of GDP in 2021, and 30.5% of GDP in 2022.
The World Bank estimated the volume of Diaspora remittances to Arab countries, excluding Palestine, at 63.2 billion US dollars in 2023, a decrease from 67 billion US dollars in 2022, equivalent to 2.27% of the region's GDP in 2023 compared to 2.32% of the region's GDP in 2022.