Remittances for Laos as of 2014

The numbers are fascinating.  Consider that:

• In 2012 Laos received its highest amount of remittances from abroad at USD$117M.  However as of 2014, it stands at just under USD$60M.  
• For 2014, Thailand and USA sent the most remittances into Laos, at almost USD$40M and USD$12M, respectively.  
• Bangladesh made 3rd place having sent USD$3M into Laos.  
• Interestingly enough, Vietnam and China are the top 2 highest recipients of Lao remittances into their countries, taking in almost USD$34M and USD$16M, each.

What makes this money unofficial is that it is generally not a part of official development aid (ODA) or foreign direct investment (FDI) figures.  Rather, remittances sent and received are generally considered more of a personal nature.

The World Bank does try to keep a record of such things for all countries, as much as it possibly can.  It uses various sources and admittedly sometimes the remittances are "unidentified" when it's unable to pinpoint the origins of a transaction.  Even so, they've compiled a good list from which to work from. 

Here's more of the details. All figures are in millions USD$.  Source:  World Bank.

Year	$ Into Laos	$ Out of Laos
2014	59.7601	58.8620
2013	59.6260	54.7895
2012	117.1866	34.0785
2011	110.2978	31.2648
2010	41.7742	28.3949

Top 10 countries that sent money into Laos in 2014:

Thailand	39.9107
USA	12.185
Bangladesh	3.1032
France	2.3975
Canada	0.9481
Vietnam	0.157
Germany	0.0718
China	0.0577
New Caledonia	0.0459
Italy	0.0136
Netherlands	0.0117

Countries that received money from Laos in 2014:

Vietnam	33.9820
China	16.5420
Thailand	8.0155
Cambodia	0.2285
Australia	0.0795
Myanmar	0.0145

Note: These were the only 6 countries noted in the World Bank document to have received money from Laos.

Related Post:   "Sending Money to Laos? The Unofficial Money That Flows Into Laos" (April 23 2014)