Migrant Workers’ Remittances in the Arab World: Scale, Significance and Prediction *

Remittances, the portion of international migrant workers’ earnings sent back to the country of origin, are perhaps the best known and possibly most appreciated aspect of the migration process. Remittances tend to figure large in local newspapers, government macroeconomic plans, and in the minds of migrants themselves. Indeed, the objective of most migrants is to maximise remitted savings in their home country. Over the last decade these remittances have come to play a major role in the economies of the labour-sending countries. Their impact at the household and community level is examined in a growing body of case studies. ¹ With the prospect of falling oil revenues leading to a reduction in the demand for migrant workers and a reduced flow of migrant remittances it seems opportune for this chapter to consider remittances from a macroeconomic viewpoint.