Leveraging Diaspora Finances for Private Capital Mobilization - Migration and Development Brief 39

After the huge, likely one-time money transfers from the Russian Federation to Europe and Central Asia in 2022, remittances to that region declined by 1.4 percent in 2023; the flows in the region were impacted by movement of oil prices and in particular, a weakening of the ruble against the US dollar. [...] The growth of remittances is expected to turn positive in the Middle East and North Africa (2.1 percent), in part due to recovery of flows to Egypt, and to improve slightly in Sub-Saharan Africa (2.5 percent), but to slow down in East Asia and the Pacific excluding China (5 percent) and dip below zero in Europe and Central Asia, as flows to the region from Russia continue to decline. [...] The risks to this forecast are tilted to the downside, given the potential for a further deterioration in the war in Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East, increased volatility in oil prices and currency exchange rates, and a deeper-than-expected economic downturn in major high-income countries. [...] The slackening in remittance growth relative to 2022 is attributable to a near collapse in growth in 2023 in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, and the halving of growth in the remaining GCC countries triggered by the drop in oil prices and production cuts in the OPEC+1 countries. [...] 1.4.2 Developments in Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT), and Countering the Financing of Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction At the fourth plenary of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which is the global standard-setting body for anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism, Bulgaria was added to the FATF’s List of Jurisdicti.