The Bhutanese Leading the way.
In January and February 2025, the country received a total of USD 36.9 million in remittances, compared to USD 28.3 million during the same period in 2024. This marks a growth of 30.4 percent in the first two months of the year.
The start of 2025 has seen a notable increase in the amount of money sent to Bhutan by Bhutanese living abroad.
Looking at the monthly figures, January 2025 recorded USD 18.5 million, which is a 59 percent increase from USD 11.6 million in January 2024. Similarly, February 2025 brought in USD 18.4 million, up by 10.2 percent from USD 16.7 million in February 2024. These figures indicate strong remittance inflows during the early months of the year.
Among the top contributing countries in January and February 2025, Australia remained the leading source. Bhutanese living in Australia sent USD 11.8 million in January and USD 11.7 million in February, totalling USD 23.5 million over the two months. There are currently under 30,000 Bhutanese living in Australia, and if you calculate this population with the remittance, each Bhutanese in Australia has sent about 783 AUD (Nu 41,000) in Bhutan over two months.
The United States of America was the second-largest source, contributing USD 1.7 million in both January and February. Kuwait followed closely, also with USD 1.5 million in each of the two months.
Other countries that contributed to the remittance inflow during this time included Canada, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Qatar, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, and Indonesia. While the amounts from these countries were smaller compared to Australia and the United States, they still played a role in the overall total. Canada and the United Kingdom each sent over USD 1 million in combined remittances over the two months. Belgium and Qatar followed with close to USD 800,000 each.
Singapore and the UAE contributed around USD 600,000 each, and Indonesia, which had not appeared prominently in previous records, sent USD 400,000 in total over the two months. Additionally, other countries combined contributed another USD 1.4 million during this period.
