RIYADH (AFP) -- Expatriate workers in Saudi Arabia sent home some 14 billion dollars in 2006, ranking the oil-rich kingdom second only to the United States, according to the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF).

Remittances from Saudi Arabia represented more than half of the total transfers made by foreign workers in the oil-rich Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), the Saudi daily al-Medina reported on Saturday, quoting the AMF.

The GCC bloc, which groups Saudi Arabia with Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, saw outflows of some 25.7 billion dollars in remittances during 2006, the newspaper said.

Expatriates make up more than a quarter of Saudi Arabia's total population of around 23 million, according to official figures published in September 2004.

Al-Medina said expatriate workers in the United States made the highest amount in transfers at 39 billion dollars. Switzerland came third with around 13 billion dollars, followed by Germany with around 10 billion dollars.

The total amount of remittances sent to Arab countries -- especially Egypt, Lebanon and Morocco -- was around 24 billion dollars in 2006, a rise of 53 percent from 2001, the report added.