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Remittance fee hike in UAE

A Dh2 remittance fee hike in the UAE is expected to affect almost a million Filipinos in the UAE, mostly concentrated in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Reports said major remittance firms have already increased their transaction fees this April, but some branches as well as small remittance outlets have yet to hike their rates.

Executives said in reports that the hike is meant to cover operational cost increase is unlikely to have a huge impact on low- to middle-income earners.

“Promoth Manghat, CEO of UAE Exchange, said the fee hike — effective from April 15 for his firm — was kept at a nominal level at less than seven per cent for amount below Dh1,000, so that it will have little impact on blue-collar remittance,” a Khaleej Times report said.

“However, despite the latest slight increases, the UAE still has the world’s lowest remittance rate at 2.5 per cent compared to the global average of 7.5 per cent,” Manghat told the paper.

CEO Rajiv Raipancholia also told Gulf News that the raise which his firm Orient Exchange implemented starting April 5 would not affect low-income workers.

“He said Dh2 increase per transaction for middle-and higher-income expatriates would be very nominal,” the Gulf News report reads.

Raipanchola, who is also the treasurer of the Foreign Exchange and Remittance Group (FERG), said the increase in bank transfer charges as well as remittance charges did not reach consensus among all FERG members but was merely done on a per-company basis.

He cited increases in salaries as well as rental fees as contributing factors to the hike.

UAE expatriates send money totalling Dh73 billion yearly to their home countries, Khaleej Times reported.

The UAE is the fourth top remittance-sending country in the work, the report also said based on a 2016 World Bank fact book.

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