Illustrative image (Photo: Yahoo) Phnom Penh (VNA) – Cambodia could lose more than 15 percent of its internationalremittances this year under the worst-case scenario because of the COVID-19 pandemic,according to a report by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
Based on the country’stotal remittances of 2.8 billion USD in 2019, more than 420 million USD will not be sent home in 2020 – mostly fromThailand – because hundreds of thousands of workers have returned home.
In its reporton “COVID-19 Impact on International Migration, Remittance, and Recipient Households in Developing Asia”, the ADBsaid that the economic recession caused by COVID-19 threatens the job securityand wellbeing of more than 91 million international migrants from Asia and thePacific.
Totalremittances to Asia are expected to drop between 31.4 billion USD (baselinescenario) and 54.3 billion USD (worst-case scenario) this year, equivalent to11.5 percent and 19.8 percent of money sent home, respectively, according tothe report.
Amongdeveloping Southeast Asian economies, the Philippines is the most affected,with remittances falling more than 20 percent and others such as Cambodia inexcess of 15 percent, the report said.
Cambodianmigrant workers from the Republic of Korea and Japan sent home 12.91 million USD via ACLEDA Bank Plc inthe first haft of this year, a decline of 1.41million USD from the same periodlast year, according to figures from the financial institution.
Last year, 1.2million Cambodian workers, employed in Thailand, the RoK, Japan, Singapore,Hong Kong (China), Malaysia and Saudi Arabia, sent home some 2.8 billion USD inremittances, an increase from 1.4 billion USD in 2018, according to figures from the Cambodian Ministry ofLabour and Vocational Training./.
VNA
