A man handles US dollar bills at a currency exchange office in Beirut. (Credit: ANWAR AMRO / AFP).
BEIRUT — Lebanon received $5.8 billion in remittances — funds received by a country from its diaspora — in 2024, down 13.4 percent from the $6.7 billion in 2023, according to the latest World Bank estimates, as cited by Byblos Bank’s Lebanon This Week. Total inflows are lower than the annual average of $6.38 billion, received between 2020 and 2024.
This trend contrasts with other developing countries, which experienced an increase of 5.8 percent in remittance inflows last year. At the same time, those of Arab countries also increased by 5.1 percent, and lower- or middle-income countries (LMICs) saw a 9.7 percent increase.
Remittance receipts made up 17.7 percent of Lebanon’s nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2024, the 17th highest ratio in the world, the report added. In comparison, it accounted for 27.6 percent of 2023’s GDP, and 32.1 percent of 2021’s GDP, at the height of Lebanon’s economic crisis.
Money inflows from abroad have helped many Lebanese families subsist amid periods of rampant hyperinflation and stark currency devaluation, which pushed over 44 percent of the population below the poverty line.
Lebanon ranked the 37th largest recipient of remittances in the world, the 25th largest amongst developing countries, and the 14th among LMICs in 2024, the report stated. Compared to other Arab countries, it was the third largest recipient behind Egypt ($22.7 billion) and Morocco ($12 billion).
