Immigrants to the European Union from the Middle East and North Africa send home at least 7,1 billion euro (53 milliarder DKR) a year, the EU said Monday, but added the amount may be double that because of unreported transactions.
The remittances are a major source of revenue for countries on the Mediterraneans southern and eastern rims and exceed foreign direct investments and development aid, the EU said in a report. It said 90 percent went to Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Turkey – the main providers of immigrants from the EUs southern neighbors.
In Morocco, they account for 6-9 percent of the countrys GDP, followed by Tunisia, where they are 4-5 percent of GDP, Algerias 2-3 percent and Turkeys 2 percent. Remittances are even more crucial to Jordan and Lebanon, equaling up to 22 percent and 15 percent of GDP, respectively.
The study – the first of its kind undertaken by the EU – was published by the Euro-Mediterranean arm of the European Investment Bank, the blocs long-term financing agency.
It proposed changing the way migrants money is transferred by banks, post offices and private companies to eliminate fuzzy transfer terms and cut handling fees that may equal 16 percent of the funds transacted. “The longer a transfer takes, the costlier the transaction,” the report said. This forces a sender of funds “to pay extra for speed.”
The report put “official” remittances to Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Turkey, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan at 7,1 billion euro in 2003, the last year for which complete data was available.
If unreported transfers are added, the total becomes 13,6 billion euro, the report estimated, well over 8,98 billion euro the eight nations received in foreign direct investments and development aid that year.
Only Turkish banks offer services enabling Turks abroad to send money home quickly and efficiently, it said. Because immigrants from other Mediterranean nations may not have a bank account – or people to receive the funds in their home country – they face slow and costly transactions, the report said.
It proposed that the EU mimic the US, where legal and illegal immigrants can get a “consular registration card” that banks accept as proof of identification. The card is no proof of residency, but gives access to safe and secure financial services.
The report said the EU must encourage banks in recipient nations to set up offshore accounts – something only Turkish banks have now – and band together to use incoming funds for investment purposes. It said recipient nations made poor use of the large sums of money they get from their nationals in Europe, estimating that only 9,7 percent of the funds were used for “productive investments.”
The EU has never considered the economic impact of the funds that immigrants in Europe send home to friends and family.
The World Bank estimates reported and unreported transfers worldwide in 2005 at 323 billion US dollar, up from 131 billion in 2000. While India, China and Mexico are the largest recipients, the remittances are most crucial for poor nations such as Tonga, Moldova, Lesotho and Haiti, accounting for more than a quarter of their GDP.
Kilde: www.worldbank.org
