India retained the top spot among remittance-receiving countries despite a significant 8.9% drop in remittances in 2016.

The World Bank’s Migration and Development Brief stated remittances to developing countries fell for a second consecutive year, a trend not witnessed in three decades.

However, India also leads the countries with declined remittances with inflows amounting to $62.7 billion in 2016 from $68.9 billion in 2015.

India’s downward remittance trend was primarily due to decreasing oil prices and fiscal tightening in oil-producing countries of the Middle East, which has a significant Indian migrant population that contribute a large chunk to the remittances to India. Read more…