BEIRUT: The World Bank revised upward its estimate for expatriates’ remittances inflows to Lebanon to $8.4 billion in 2010 from a forecast of $8.2 billion last November.

As a result, the growth of remittance flows to Lebanon year-on-year increased to 11.3 percent from a November estimate of 8.2 percent, as reported by Lebanon This Week, the economic publication of the Byblos Bank Group.

Lebanon posted the second fastest growth rate in remittances among the 10 largest recipients in developing economies last year, behind only Vietnam where remittance flows grew by 17 percent year-on-year.

But the World Bank said remittance inflows to Lebanon grew by 6.5 percent in 2010 when adjusted for inflation in local currency. As such, Lebanon posted the second fastest growth of remittance flows in real local currency terms among the 10 largest recipients of remittances in developing economies last year. Vietnam ranked first among developing countries with a growth of 16.4 percent in real terms.

Lebanon was the 12th largest recipient of remittances globally, the 8th largest recipient among developing economies, and the largest in the MENA region in 2010. It ranked ahead of Egypt and Vietnam, and behind Pakistan and Nigeria among developing economies.

Also, Lebanon was the largest recipient of remittances among 17 countries in the Middle East and North Africa region as well as among 14 Arab countries included in the survey.

Further, Lebanon was the second largest recipient of remittances among 42 Upper Middle Income Countries (UMICs) covered by the survey. It ranked ahead of Russia, Serbia and Romania, and came only behind Mexico among UMICs.

Remittances inflows to Lebanon accounted for 1.9 percent of the global inflow of remittances in 2010, relative to 1.8 percent in 2009 and 1.6 percent in 2008, while they represent 2.6 percent of aggregate remittances to developing economies last year, up from 2.5 percent in 2009 and 2.2 percent in 2008. They also account for 21.7 percent of remittance inflows to Arab countries and for 22 percent of total remittance flows to the MENA region in 2010.

Further, they represented 10.6 percent of remittance inflows to UMICs in 2010 relative to 9.7 percent in 2009 and 7.8 percent in 2008. Also, the 11.6 percent nominal rise in remittances to Lebanon in 2010 is significantly higher than the 6.2 percent growth in inflows to the MENA region, the 5.6 percent increase for developing countries, the 2.5 percent rise for UMICs, and the global growth of 5.4 percent last year.

In parallel, expatriates’ remittances to Lebanon were equivalent to 21.4 percent of GDP in 2010, the highest among the top 10 recipients in developing economies.

The World Bank projected the flow of remittances to the MENA region to increase by 3.4 percent in 2011, constituting the slowest growth rate among all developing regions.