Egypt’s ranking comes after India, Mexico, China, the Philippines, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, all of which received higher remittance volumes.
Egypt has ranked seventh globally in remittance inflows, receiving a total of $22.7 billion in 2024, according to the World Bank, as announced by Egypt’s Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS).
Egypt’s ranking comes after India, Mexico, China, the Philippines, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, all of which received higher remittance volumes.
In terms of Egypt’s remittance performance over the past five years, CAPMAS noted that inflows saw significant growth from $27.8 billion in 2019/2020 to $31.9 billion in 2021/2022, driven largely by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which prompted many Egyptians abroad to send savings home.
However, this trend reversed in the following years, with remittances declining to $22.1 billion in 2022/2023 and $21.9 billion in 2023/2024. CAPMAS attributed the drop to factors such as post-pandemic layoffs, the rise of parallel currency markets, global inflation, and slowing economic growth in Gulf countries.
Despite this downturn, the first quarter of 2025 witnessed a strong rebound in remittance inflows, which rose by 84.4% to $8.33 billion, compared to $4.52 billion in the same period of 2024.
This sharp increase is largely attributed to Egypt’s foreign exchange reform, particularly the unification of exchange rates implemented in March 2024, which encouraged more official remittance channels and bolstered foreign currency reserves.
CAPMAS emphasized that 75% of annual remittance flows are directed toward meeting essential needs such as food, healthcare, education, housing, and sanitation.
The remaining 25% is either saved, invested, or used to launch small businesses, making remittances a tool not only for survival but also for economic advancement.
According to the International Migration Report 2024, there are currently 281 million international migrants globally, representing 3.6% of the world’s population—approximately one in every 30 people. Over the past two decades, global remittance flows have surged from $128 billion in 2000 to $831 billion in 2024.
Over the last decade alone, migrants have sent more than $5 trillion to low- and middle-income countries—exceeding global development aid and rivaling foreign direct investment. Significantly, over a third of these funds reached rural areas. Projections indicate that an additional $4.4 trillion will flow to these countries through remittances by 2030.
Within the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 10.c), global efforts aim to reduce the cost of remittance transfers to below 3% per transaction and eliminate channels that exceed 5% by 2030.
CAPMAS referenced World Bank data showing that the average global cost of sending $200 stood at 6.4% in the fourth quarter of 2023, slightly up from 6.2% in 2022.
Bank transfers remain the most expensive remittance method at an average cost of 12%, followed by postal services at 7.7%, money transfer operators at 5.5%, and mobile money services at 4.4%.
Despite being the cheapest option, mobile transfers account for less than 1% of total remittance transactions globally.
