Tuesday, December 29, 2020
Elder of Ziyon
From Investopedia:
Remittances are funds transferred from migrants to their home country. They are the private savings of workers and families that are spent in the home country for food, clothing and other expenditures, and which drive the home economy. For many developing nations, remittances from citizens working abroad provide an import source of much-needed funds.
The World Bank keeps track of these figures but some are only estimates. They provide a financial picture of how Israel funds, and is funded, by citizens of other countries in ways that are rarely seen.
Not surprisingly, Israelis send far more to other countries than they receive. In 2017, Israelis sent nearly $3 billion to other countries and received almost $1 billion.
The list of countries that Israelis send remittances to includes many Arab and Muslim countries. By far the biggest recipient is Morocco, with almost $400 million in remittances from Israel. But other countries on the list are even more surprising.
Egypt received $119 million - even though there are only a handful of Jews left in Egypt. Other surprises are Yemen with $68 million, Tunisia with $66 million and Algeria with $54 million. The standard concept of remittances doesn't explain these numbers at all, and perhaps they hint to an underground black market economy between Israel and Arab nations. Further evidence for this is the $166 million sent from the Palestinian territories to Israel, this might be to get around taxes or PA restrictions on businesses.
Most surprising is the $43 million sent from Israel to Iran. Not because there aren't a lot of Israelis from Iran who want to help their relatives, but how these funds are transferred in a way that the World Bank can see them but Israeli and Iranian banking regulations seem not to.
Oddly, no money was recorded between Iran and the Palestinian territories. But in 2017 some $340 million was somehow transferred from the US to Iran!
Altogether, this shows that Israel is far more economically integrated into the Middle East than most people realize.
Remittances from Israel to other countries, 2017
| Country | $ |
| France | $545,000,000 |
| Morocco | $399,000,000 |
| Ukraine | $207,000,000 |
| United States | $168,000,000 |
| Romania | $151,000,000 |
| Egypt | $119,000,000 |
| Belgium | $118,000,000 |
| Poland | $104,000,000 |
| Hungary | $103,000,000 |
| India | $98,000,000 |
| Germany | $97,000,000 |
| Russia | $89,000,000 |
| Ethiopia | $86,000,000 |
| Yemen | $68,000,000 |
| Tunisia | $66,000,000 |
| Algeria | $54,000,000 |
| Iran | $43,000,000 |
| Iraq | $32,000,000 |
| Argentina | $28,000,000 |
| Austria | $28,000,000 |
| Bulgaria | $27,000,000 |
| Georgia | $25,000,000 |
| Moldova | $23,000,000 |
| United Kingdom | $19,000,000 |
| Belarus | $18,000,000 |
| Italy | $16,000,000 |
| Spain | $16,000,000 |
| Switzerland | $15,000,000 |
| Brazil | $14,000,000 |
| Australia | $13,000,000 |
| Latvia | $13,000,000 |
| South Africa | $13,000,000 |
| Azerbaijan | $12,000,000 |
| Denmark | $10,000,000 |
| Kyrgyzstan | $10,000,000 |
| Lithuania | $9,000,000 |
| Turkey | $9,000,000 |
| Canada | $8,000,000 |
| Tajikistan | $8,000,000 |
| Netherlands | $7,000,000 |
| Colombia | $6,000,000 |
| Mexico | $6,000,000 |
| Sweden | $6,000,000 |
| Peru | $5,000,000 |
| China | $4,000,000 |
| Syria | $4,000,000 |
| Uruguay | $2,000,000 |
| Kazakhstan | $1,000,000 |
| Country | |
| United States | $408,000,000 |
| Palestinian territories | $166,000,000 |
| Germany | $74,000,000 |
| Canada | $71,000,000 |
| United Kingdom | $55,000,000 |
| Australia | $31,000,000 |
| France | $25,000,000 |
| Netherlands | $14,000,000 |
| Italy | $12,000,000 |
| Turkey | $11,000,000 |
| Switzerland | $10,000,000 |
| Russia | $9,000,000 |
| South Africa | $9,000,000 |
| Belgium | $8,000,000 |
| Austria | $7,000,000 |
| Spain | $7,000,000 |
| Sweden | $7,000,000 |
| Argentina | $5,000,000 |
| Brazil | $5,000,000 |
| Denmark | $5,000,000 |
| Hungary | $5,000,000 |
| Czech Republic | $4,000,000 |
| Jordan | $4,000,000 |
| Mexico | $4,000,000 |
| Panama | $3,000,000 |
| Chile | $2,000,000 |
| China | $2,000,000 |
| Ecuador | $2,000,000 |
| Finland | $2,000,000 |
| Norway | $2,000,000 |
| Peru | $2,000,000 |
| Philippines | $2,000,000 |
| Romania | $2,000,000 |
