HAITI: US remittances keep the homeland afloat
NEW YORK, 11 March 2010 (IRIN): Haitis economy depends on the estimated 1,5 billion US dollar (8 milliarder DKR) a year in remittances (pengeoverførsler) sent home by its million-strong diaspora (haitianere i udlandet).
Dilip Ratha, lead economist at the World Bank, said the figure could be even higher, accounting for perhaps half the national income.
The money is funnelled into the country via banks, transfer agencies or informal “mailmen” (facteurs), who make deliveries for friends and family, sometimes for payment.
A 2007 Humanitarian Policy Group report for the Overseas Development Institute estimated that “an unknown but certainly large” amount of remittances were delivered this way.
The 7.0 magnitude earthquake on 12 January 2010 halted non-emergency travel into Haiti for a time, putting a temporary stop to the facteurs and preventing the central bank from distributing funds to branches in the countryside. Haitians in the United States and elsewhere were forced to find other ways to help relatives.
One place they turned was Fonkoze, a microfinance institution with 42 branches scattered throughout Haiti, which works with money transfer services like MoneyGram and Unitransfer, and the City National Bank of New Jersey.
– A woman in New Mexico called me in a panic – she had not ever done anything like this before, said Katleen Felix, a New York-based liaison for Fonkoze, adding: – There were many calls like that.
Haitians were plundering their bank accounts, cashing out their retirement savings accounts, maxing out credit cards, and holding fundraisers.
Money flow
To keep these vital funds flowing, US Senators John Kerry (D-Massachusetts) and Evan Bayh (D-Indiana) asked Western Union and MoneyGram money transfer services to reduce or eliminate fees for people sending money to Haiti.
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