MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Migrant workers' remittances reached 300 billion in 2006

Migrant workers sent home more than 300 billion US dollars to their families in developing countries in 2006, according to a study released Wednesday in Washington, D.C. by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

"This figure, which is a conservative estimate, shows that the seemingly small sums sent home by migrant workers, when added together, dwarf official development assistance," said Kevin Cleaver, IFAD's assistant president. Donor nations provided almost 104 billion dollars in aid to developing countries last year, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Remittances are generated by some 150 million migrants who send money home regularly, typically between 100 and 300 US dollars at a time, and mostly from industrialized nations in North America, Europe and Asia. Donald F. Terry, general manager of the IDB's Multilateral Investment Fund, pointed out that migrant remittances also surpassed foreign direct investment in developing countries, which in 2006 totaled around 167 billion, according to the Institute of International Finance. Cleaver and Terry presented the study, Sending money home: Worldwide remittances to developing countries,and a map produced by IFAD, the first one to show remittances on a worldwide basis and to highlight the rural share of these flows. According to the study, in 2006 Asia was the top destination of remittances, receiving more than 114 billion US dollars; followed by Latin America and the Caribbean, 68 billion; Eastern Europe, 51 billion; Africa, 39 billion and the Near East 29 billion. Taking nations individually, India received the most 24.5 billion, followed by Mexico, 24.2 billion, China, 21 billion; the Philippines 14.6 billion and Russia 13.7 billion. The number of migrants was also considered, 50 million of Asians and 30 million of Latinamericans, as well as the average remittance: 3.126 US dollars per Asian and 2.128 US dollars per Latinamerican. In some Latinamerican countries one out of three families in the Dominican Republic receives remittances; one out of four in Central America and one in five in Mexico. Of the countries covered in the report, 59 receive more than one billion US dollars a year in remittances and 45 receive more than 10% of their GDP from their expatriates. The IFAD study, which was carried out in collaboration with the IDB, based its figures on official data from governments, banks and money transfer operators, as well as on estimates of informal flows, such as money carried home. The study and the map were released on the eve of the International Forum on Remittances 2007, which will take place on October 18-19 at the IDB's conference center in Washington.