The total value of remittances by foreign workers in the UAE reached some AED78 billion during the first half of 2017, representing 48.5 percent of the total balance of payments in the country in 2016 of AED160.8 billion.

The UAE Central Bank announced that the same figure reached AED40.8 billion during the second quarter of 2017, an approximate increase of 10 percent, compared to AED37.1 billion in the first quarter of the same year.

According to the bank’s data, AED31.4 billion, or 77 percent 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 percent, or AED9.4 billion, were converted through banks.

Indian workers continued to lead as the most active nationality in terms of remittances, which reached AED14.64 billion or around 35.9 percent 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 percent, a value of AED3.91 billion.

Remittances by Filipino workers, who came in the third position, accounted for 7.1 percent with a value of around AED2.9 billion while Egyptian workers accounted for 5.2 percent, a value of AED2.12 billion.

The value of remittances by British workers reached AED1.7 billion while the figure for Bangladeshi workers reached AED1.63 billion, which is the same for American workers. The conversions of Jamaican workers reached some AED1.2 billion while the figure for Swiss workers reached AED775 million, which is the same for Lebanese workers.

Workers from Asian countries represent over 82 percent of the number foreign workers registered in the UAE, and they accounted for a total value of overseas remittances of around AED23 billion, or 56.3 percent, during the second quarter of the current year.