Remittances rise alongside Gulf employment
GCC-Stat attributed the increase partly to the continued attraction of expatriate workers as Gulf economies expand beyond hydrocarbons.
Large infrastructure programmes, construction activity, services, manufacturing and other non-oil industries continue to generate demand for foreign labour across the six GCC economies.
The report said worker remittances amounted to about 6.6 per cent of the GCC’s combined gross domestic product in 2025, up from 6 per cent in 2024, 5.7 per cent in 2023 and 5.6 per cent in 2022.
GCC-Stat cautioned, however, that the ratio should be viewed as a measure of the relative weight of remittance flows compared with the size of the region’s economies. It does not, on its own, indicate whether economic performance has improved or deteriorated.