As many as 2.1 million expatriates in the UAE remitted Dh 40 billion (USD 9.5 billion) to their families back home last year, according to a statistical report released here by the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
"Expatriate workers from the Indian sub-continent and East Asia accounted for 45 per cent of the total official and unofficial remittances of $9.5 billion, while Arabs and Europeans transferred 25 and 10 per cent respectively, the report said.
To check the massive outflow of funds, the Chamber in its report recommended a series of measures including, establishing special low rent residential zones for limited income groups to help them bring in their families and encouraging expatriate workforce to set up joint ventures in the country.
From 2000 to 2004, the remittances grew by 9.4 per cent with unofficial transfers outpacing the official one at $5.4 billion or 57 per cent of the total $9.5 billion.
A breakdown showed that the remittances accounted for 4.5 per cent of the UAE's GDP of $90.7 billion in 2004.
The report said remittances had seen record growth of 128 per cent from 1975 to 1980 during the first oil boom during which thousands of expatriates were brought in to work in massive development projects.
