The report stated that over the first half of 2010, remittances sent abroad amounted to SR58.6 billion versus SR47.8 billion during the corresponding period in 2009, registering a 22.6 percent increase.

The central bank said that during Q1, remittances stood at SR28.3 billion and rose to SR30.3 billion in Q2. “Remittances are primarily going to Asian countries such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Philippines and Arab states such as Egypt, Sudan and Yemen,” the SAMA report stated, adding that foreign remittances are one of the most important items of payment on the current account on the government's budget.

The report continued that SAMA has shown that the largest volume of remittances are of foreign workers in the private sector which continues to grow annually, primarily due to an increase in the recruitment of foreign workers.

The latest statistics from the Central Department of Data and Statistics state that the number of expatriate workers in the Kingdom has grown to 8,429,401.