Latin American immigrants working in Spain sent home to their countries of origin 3,73 billion euro (5 billion US dollar at the current exchange rate) in remittances last year, helping support some 8 million dependents on the other side of the Atlantic.
This is one of the main conclusions of the first report on the sending of remittances between Spain and Latin America, a study prepared by the Bendixen and Associates for a unit of the Inter-American Development Bank and presented Tuesday in Madrid.
Remittances constitute the main engine of growth for the Latin American economy, exceeding foreign direct investment in some countries.
The study was put together from 1.100 interviews conducted last April among Latin American immigrants mainly from Ecuador, Colombia, Argentina, the Dominican Republic, Peru, Bolivia and Paraguay.
Cash sent home to Latin America by an immigrant in Spain is more likely to help pull their family out of poverty than the same sum transferred by one in the US, the study concluded.
The report from said Spains immigrant-friendly banking system charges less and encourages those back home to set up bank accounts. That gives many poor families access to full financial services – such as mortgages (pantebreve/panteret) – for the first time and brings new clients for the Spanish banks.
The cost of sending money from Spain has plummeted from as much as 20 percent of the total seven years ago to an average 2 percent today – a third less than anywhere else – as banks fight for new customers in the fast-growing immigrant market.
Kilde: www.worldbank.org
