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October 2009

First round of seasonal workers finishes in Australia

Submitted by Tomas Martin Ernst on Fri, 10/30/2009 - 16:59

I've just returned from country Australia evaluating the impact of one of the World Bank's (WB) recent development programs in the region. A WB initiative on the ground in Australia? What is the relationship between country Australia and the Bank's mandate of a world free of poverty?

Photo © Tomas Ernst/World Bank

Following several year's of research and advocacy, the Australian government opened its borders this year to the short-term supply of labour from the Pacific Islands (PIs). Evidence from New Zealand showed that when temporary labour mobility programs are well managed - with the appropriate level of monitoring to prevent worker exploitation and with the right incentives to minimize overstaying - the scheme is win-win for growers and PI workers. Growers enjoy a steady, reliable source of labour and PI workers receive income at least 4-5 times the GDP/capita of their home country.

My colleague Nathan and I travelled to Griffith, New South Wales where six ni-Vanuatu workers were preparing to head home following a six-month assignment picking, pruning and packing fruit. All workers reported a significantly improved financial position, with the majority sending regular remittances to their family members and local villages. In terms of skills acquisition, the training workers received on farms in Australia will benefit them when they return home to agriculture dependant economies of the South Pacific.

Diaspora Latina, remesas y crisis económica

Submitted by Sonia Plaza on Thu, 10/29/2009 - 18:02

Acabo de realizar una podcast entrevista con Ximena Gutiérrez (coordinadora del sitio web del Banco Mundial en español www.bancomundial.org) sobre cómo la crisis financiera mundial esta impactando a la “diaspora latina”, a la demanda laboral de los trabajadores migrantes y a los flujos de remesas a América Latina.

US banks’ actions to close small money transfer companies’ accounts may reduce legitimate options for sending money home

Submitted by Jacqueline Irving on Tue, 10/27/2009 - 19:11

US-based migrants may find it much harder to opt for formal channels in sending money to needy family members overseas because of an increasing tendency on the part of a number of US banks to close down the accounts held by small, niche money transfer companies—including many that are in full compliance with licensing, auditing, customer reporting and other regulatory requirements of US state and national authorities.

Shanta's Podcast on African Migration

Submitted by Sanket Mohapatra on Mon, 10/26/2009 - 17:31

For those of you like me who have not heard Shanta Devarajan on 'Mobilizing the African Diaspora', it is worth having the patience to sit through George Collinet's initial introduction. George starts with "Remittances again? You just had a podcast on remittances" (referring to Dilip's interview)!
 
Shanta talks about the impact of the crisis and also about the diaspora conference where he chaired a session on brain drain, and where Michael Clemens compared the remittances of Nigerian doctors to the cost of their education and found that the former exceeds the latter. 

Does migration also cause climate change?

Submitted by Dilip Ratha on Thu, 10/15/2009 - 17:24

Climate change has historically pushed people to migrate. There is widespread belief - fear? - that rising sea levels will force millions of people to migrate out of Bangladesh and Vietnam. If that happens, these migrants will spill into neighboring countries many of which are unlikely to be ready to take on migrants. Many will also sooner or later spread into far away countries in Australia, Asia, Europe and North America.

What concerns me more is that this simplistic viewpoint has very little factual analytical backing. Data on migration trends over time are bad. Data on climate change as they relate to migration are even worse. What is worse, migration experts are not necessarily talking to the experts on climate change.

Remittances to Central Asia are falling, but less so in ruble terms

Submitted by Sanket Mohapatra on Thu, 10/08/2009 - 13:25

Remittance flows to several Central Asian countries appear to be declining precipitously in the first half of this year, raising concerns that these flows are less resilient in the Europe and Central Asia region than in other developing regions. Remittance flows in US dollar terms to Kyrgyz Republic, Armenia, and Tajikistan declined by 15 percent, 33 percent and 34 percent respectively in the first half of 2009 compared to the same period last year.
 
Most of remittances to these three Central Asian countries come from Russia. From a survey of central banks that we conducted last year, Russia reportedly accounts for more than four-fifth of remittance inflows in Kyrgyz Republic and Armenia, and it was the top source country for remittances to Tajikistan. Driven by increasing emigration, primarily to Russia, remittance flows more than doubled in Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan US dollar terms between 2006 and 2008, while personal transfers through banks in Armenia increased by some 70 percent.  

Home Again

Submitted by Dilip Ratha on Mon, 10/05/2009 - 17:20

   Photo © Dilip Ratha/ World Bank

I was in Sindhekela (India) last August. "Home again," as Jason DeParle put it after our last trip to Sindhekela together. It was hot and humid. There were more mosquitoes than I have ever seen. But with the monsoon came a season of festivity. For the first time in decades I was home for Ganesh Puja and Nuakhai.

Ganesh Puja offers homage to the Hindu God of wisdom, so wise that He has the head of an elephant. When I visited my school, I noticed that unlike other years, the students did not install the statue of Ganesh inside a classroom. A few days earlier, an old beam supporting the roof had come crashing down while a class was in progress. Miraculously no one was hurt - thanks to Lord Ganesh! But they did not take another chance, and installed the statue on the veranda.