Remittances by expatriate workers in the Sultanate fell 8.3 per cent to RO 3.512 billion in 2019, mirroring the ongoing downturn that has gripped the Omani and the wider global economy.
According to the Central Bank of Oman (CBO), outflows in the form of remittances were the lowest in nearly five years.
However, 2020 is on track to hit a new low in remittance outflows following the departure of record numbers of expatriates hit by the economic crunch compounded by the pandemic.
“The current transfers (workers’ remittances) fell significantly reflecting a decline in expatriate workers following Omanisation policies and the slowdown in some economic activities,” the apex bank noted in its 2019 Annual Report issued on Monday.
Remittances have been on the downtrend since 2015 when it hit an all-time high of RO 4.226 billion – a level the CBO had warned would add to the “leakage of savings in the form of current transfers”.
Outflows have been steadily on the decline since then.
It declined to RO 3.965 billion in 2016, falling further to RO 3.774 billion a year later. In 2018, remittances climbed somewhat to RO 3.829 billion before slumping to RO 3.512 billion last year.
More than 400,000 expatriate workers and their dependents have exited the Sultanate over the first 10 months of this year (versus corresponding figures for 2019) in the wake of the economic slowdown triggered by low international oil prices and the COVID-19 pandemic.
CONRAD PRABHU
@conradprabhu
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