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A blog about migration, remittances, and development

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This blog is hosted by Dilip Ratha, lead economist at the World Bank. Its goal is to leverage migration and remittances for development.  
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November 2009

Updates to monthly remittances data

Submitted by Ani Silwal on Tue, 11/17/2009 - 16:38

Updates to monthly remittances data

  • Remittances to Guatemala declined 10.9% y-o-y in October. Year-to-date decline is 9.9%.
  • Remittances to El Salvador declined 7.1% y-o-y in October. Year-to-date decline is 10%.
  • Remittances to Jamaica declined 17.3% y-o-y in September. Year-to-date decline is 15.5%.
  • Remittances to Nicaragua declined 8.4% y-o-y in September. Year-to-date decline is 6.3%.
  • Remittances to Pakistan grew 62.7% y-o-y in October. Year-to-date growth is 26.7%.
  • Remittances to Nepal grew 2% y-o-y in September. Year-to-date growth is 14.2%.
  • Remittances to the Philippines grew 8.6% y-o-y in September. Year-to-date growth is 4.2%.

 

Remittances to Latin America and Caribbean are falling:


 

Migration and Remittance Trends 2009: A better-than-expected outcome so far, but significant risks ahead

Submitted by Dilip Ratha on Tue, 11/03/2009 - 10:06

With Sanket and Ani

We have just released Migration and Development Brief 11 (see accompanying presentation) reporting latest data on remittance flows. Newly available data show that officially recorded remittance flows to developing countries reached $338 billion in 2008, higher than our previous estimate of $328 billion. Based on monthly and quarterly data released by some central banks and in line with the World Bank’s global economic outlook we estimate that remittance flows to developing countries will fall to $317 billion in 2009. This 6.1 percent decline is smaller than our earlier expectation of a 7.3 percent fall.

By now it is clear that existing migrants are not returning even though the job market has been weak in many destination countries; instead they are staying on longer and trying to send money home by cutting living costs. New migration flows are lower due to the economic crisis, but they are still positive. We maintain our expectation of a recovery in migration and remittance flows in 2010 and 2011, but the recovery is likely to be shallow.

Labor Mobility and Circular Migration: What are the challenges of the Stockholm Program?

Submitted by Sonia Plaza on Mon, 11/02/2009 - 19:35

I recently gave a presentation and participated in a conference organized by the Swedish Presidency of the European Union(EU) on “Labor Migration and its Development Potential in the Age of Mobility"on October 15-16. The conference focused on two main themes: a) Labor immigration, and b) Circular migration and its development potential.

Speakers and participants discussed the importance of improving labor mobility in Europe given demographic changes. New players such as China and India are competing for global talent. The EU should become an attractive market for immigrants if it wants to remain competitive in the coming decades.  Within this context mutual recognition of skills and accreditation becomes key for developing countries. (See my previous post)