Remittances to South Asia grew 6.1 percent in 2019, reaching an enormous US$122 billion, or 22% of the entire global market. That figure puts the region behind only East Asia and the Pacific (US$147B) for total remittance volume, with South Asia boasting the lowest average remittance costs in the world at 4.95 percent.
This low cost can be attributed to India, the largest remittance recipient globally, where dozens of incumbent remittance providers from the Gulf and North America compete for a piece of the lucrative US$83 billion market. That incredibly high volume translates to lower transaction fees and more competitive foreign exchange rates, which are much harder to find in India’s neighboring countries. read more
Sending money from Canada to the Philippines the hard way
