The total value of remittances by foreign workers in the UAE reached some Dh78 billion ($21.2 billion) during the first half of 2017, representing 48.5 per cent of the total balance of payments in the country in 2016 of Dh160.8 billion.

The UAE Central Bank announced that the same figure reached Dh40.8 billion during the second quarter of 2017, an approximate increase of 10 per cent, compared to Dh37.1 billion in the first quarter of the same year, reported Wam, the official Emirates news agency.

According to the bank’s data, Dh31.4 billion, or 77 per cent of the total of remittances of foreign workers in the country, were transferred through money exchange companies during the second quarter of the year, while 23 per cent, or Dh9.4 billion, were converted through banks.

Indian workers continued to lead as the most active nationality in terms of remittances, which reached Dh14.64 billion or around 35.9 per cent of the total of the value of remittances during the second quarter of the year. Pakistani workers came in the second position with 9.6 per cent, a value of Dh3.91 billion.

Remittances by Filipino workers, who came in the third position, accounted for 7.1 per cent with a value of around Dh2.9 billion while Egyptian workers accounted for 5.2 per cent, a value of Dh2.12 billion.

The value of remittances by British workers reached Dh1.7 billion while the figure for Bangladeshi workers reached Dh1.63 billion, which is the same for American workers. The conversions of Jamaican workers reached some Dh1.2 billion while the figure for Swiss workers reached Dh775 million, which is the same for Lebanese workers.

Workers from Asian countries represent over 82 per cent of the number foreign workers registered in the UAE, and they accounted for a total value of overseas remittances of around Dh23 billion, or 56.3 per cent, during the second quarter of the current year.