Remittances to developing countries will total USD 435 billion, an increase of 5% as compared to 2013, according to the ‘Migration and Development Brief’ report from World Bank.

Kaushik Basu, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of the World Bank Group, has informed that China ranks second with USD 64 million inbound remittances from abroad in 2014.

Other large recipients are the Philippines (USD 28 billion), Mexico (USD 24 billion), Nigeria (USD 21 billion), Egypt (USD 18 billion), Pakistan (USD 17 billion), Bangladesh (USD 15 billion), Vietnam (USD 11 billion) and Ukraine (USD9 billion).

The growth rate in 2014 is substantially faster than the 3.4% growth recorded in 2013, driven largely by remittances to Asia and Latin America. Remittances to developing countries will continue climbing in the medium term, reaching an estimated USD 454 billion in 2015. Global remittances, including those to high-income countries, are estimated at USD 582 billion in 2014, rising to USD 608 billion in 2015.

The brief notes that the global average cost of sending remittances continued its downward trend in the Q3 2014, falling to 7.9% of the value sent, compared to 8.9% in 2013. However, the cost of sending money to Africa remains high, exceeding 11%.

As a share of GDP (2013), the top recipients of remittances were Tajikistan (42%), Kyrgyz Republic (32%), Nepal (29%), Moldova (25%), Lesotho and Samoa (24%), Armenia and Haiti (21%), the Gambia (20%) and Liberia (18%).