Remittances from Saudi Arabia: A Community Phenomenon

The remittances sent home by overseas Pakistani workers have more than quadrupled in the last eight years to more than $13.186 billion by June 2012, with expatriates in Saudi Arabia sending more remittances to Pakistan than from anywhere else in the world. This study uses a sample of 542 Saudi migrant households from nine high migration districts in 2009 to ascertain the factors that encourage Saudi migrants to send back remittances. The study analyses individual, household and community determinants of remittances in a combined framework. The findings of the study strongly establish the education of the migrant as the most important factor affecting the level of remittances to Pakistan from Saudi Arabia. In addition, the study provides a novel and interesting insight into the role of community level variables in explaining differential remittance flows to the districts analysed. This indicates that the role of the government is not just limited to designing and implementing migration and remittance policies, but has a stronger role to play in influencing the flow of remittances to Pakistan by influencing the level of economic development across districts.