Worldwide, one in every 35 persons is now a migrant. In 1970, money sent home by international migrants to developing countries through official channels amounted to 2 billion US dollar. By 2003 the figure was 93 billion dollar. If unofficial transfers are also counted, the volume of such remittances could be double this amount.
These figures are staggering, exceeding the 68,5 billion US dollar that rich countries currently spend on official development assistance, writes Brunson McKinley, director general of the International Organization for Migration, in an opinion piece in The International Herald Tribune.
Migrants have long been ignored as a resource. Instead, they have often been perceived either as an economic burden on countries of destination or as a potential loss to their country of origin through “brain drain”, he writes according to the World Bank press review Thursday.
There is another side to this story. Migrants are helping to maintain important social and economic linkages between the developed and developing worlds that alleviate poverty in very significant ways. Flows of remittances and the return of migrants with new skills can offset the loss of migrants and may even lead to a “brain gain.”
Modern communication and cheaper transportation make it easier for migrants to maintain links with their home countries, creating opportunities for investments and the sharing of know-how, he writes.
But there is much that could be done to enhance the development impact of remittances, such as:
Reduce the cost of transactions. Increased competition among providers of remittance services would reduce costs and could save hundreds of millions of dollars a year, with the benefit flowing to migrants and their family members.
Provide more reliable information so that migrants are better informed about the real cost of remitting and the different options available.
Increase the volume of remittances. Greater efforts must be made to reach out to migrant communities in developed countries and their families in developing countries to ensure access to basic banking services. Only four out of 10 Latin American immigrants in the United States have accounts in financial institutions.
Enhance development impacts. Governments should support practical remittance management solutions that facilitate investments in entrepreneurial and other job-creating activities.
Explore innovative practices such as the creation of micro enterprise lending schemes, bond issuance against future remittance flows, information campaigns on remittance management and capacity-building for consular offices, McKinley concludes.
Kilde: www.worldbank.org
