Remittance by Myanmar migrant workers exceeds 500 m USD

Remittance by Myanmar migrant workers exceeds 500 m USD
Published 8 October 2019

 

Till June this year, the total remittance of money by Myanmar migrant workers amounted to over 500 million US dollars, according to the Department of Labour.

From January to June this year, a total of 556,148 Myanmar migrant workers remitted 526,689 million US dollars to their families in Myanmar. 

As the official remittance of money via the banks in relevant countries can contribute to the GDP growth, the department has paid attention to the remittance of money via the official routes. 

The official remittance of money by Myanmar migrant workers reached 101,793 million US dollars in 2014, 271,293 million USD in 2015, 461,185 million USD in 2016, 632,144 million USD in 2017 and 909,814 million USD in 2018. 

The official remittance of money accounted for 0.81 per cent of the GDP in 2016-2017 FY  and 1.06 per cent in 2017-2018 FY.  

The remittance of money is still low compared with the number of Myanmar migrant workers. Since 1990, Myanmar sent its citizens to 19 countries. Currently, Myanmar officially sends migrant workers to Thailand, Malaysia, UAE, South Korea, Singapore, Japan, Quata, Macro and Jordan. 

From 1990 till June 2019, Myanmar officially dispatched around 1.06 million workers. Around 10 per cent of the country’s total population are migrant workers. 

According to the Labour Department, the number of migrant workers reached over 23,000 in January, over 22,000 in February, over 22,000 in March, over 20,000 in April, over 30,000 in May, over 30,000 in June, over 30,000 in July and over 33,000 in August. Myanmar migrant workers are mostly working in Thailand. 

The number of migrant workers who enter Thailand and Malaysia via illegal routes is higher than that of workers who enter these countries via legal routes.