Dilip Ratha's blog

Today marks an important date: The Global Knowledge Partnership on Migration and Development  (KP) begins its inception phase today. With seed funding from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the KP will be a global public good, multidisciplinary, a process of synthesizing existing knowledge and creating knowledge where necessary, all with the purpose of creating a menu of policy options for policy makers (see consultation draft). The policy recommendations will be designed with careful analysis of facts and evidence. Methodologies will be closely scrutinized by peer reviewers. A 9 month inception phase will end in January 2013, and the KP will enter implementation phase in February 2013. By then, a secretariat would have been established, an Advisory Board formed, and at least 5 thematic working groups would have been identified.

Newly available data from several countries reveal that officially recorded remittance flows to developing countries reached $372 billion in 2011, an increase of 12.1 percent over 2010 (figure 1). Worldwide remittance flows, including those to high-income countries, reached $501 billion in 2011 and are expected to increase to $615 billion by 2014. Please see Migration and Development Brief 18 for global and regional data. Country-level time series data are posted here. This is higher than our earlier estimate of $351 billion.

The United States is perhaps the largest destination country for international migrants, and is by far the largest source country for international remittances (see our Factbook and a recent CBO report on remittances). The US Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that outward remittance flows from the US amounted to $51.6 billion in 2010 (see table 1). So far the BEA has published remittance data for the first three quarters of 2011. What could be the estimate for the fourth quarter 2011 and by implication the annual figure for 2011?

A challenge for developing countries considering issuance of bonds (including diaspora bonds) is costly and onerous SEC registration requirements in the U.S. and Europe.  The Capital Raising Online While Deterring Fraud and Unethical Non-Disclosure Act (CROWDFUND Act) passed by the U.S. Senate on March 22 could potentially make the regulatory process simpler for some small-scale financing for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in developing country.

We have just received the video recording of the launch event for Remittance Markets in Africa. The book launch was well attended and there was a lively Q&A. Sanket Mohapatra and I presented the key findings of their volume. Mr.

Of late I have been receiving a number of questions on legal requirements for selling retail diaspora bonds in the US. I am enclosing below some general information, but with the caveat that I am not a lawyer and I may be wrong. In the end reputable law firms (rather than economists like me) ought to be consulted.  

• Retail diaspora bonds (even if they are a part of a larger institutional offering) should be registered under SEC Securities Act 33 Schedule B.


• It can take 2-3 months to complete registration.

We have updated the data on worldwide remittance flows -  including flows to developing countries and high income countries - to $483 billion in 2011. Of this, developing countries received $351 billion in 2011.  Worldwide remittance flows are expected to reach $593 billion in 2014.

Officially recorded remittance flows to developing countries are estimated to have reached $351 billion in 2011, up 8 percent over 2010 (See brief).

For the first time since the global financial crisis, remittance flows to all six developing regions rose in 2011. Growth of remittances in 2011 exceeded our earlier expectations in four regions, especially in Europe and Central Asia (due to higher outward flows from Russia that benefited from high oil prices) and Sub-Saharan Africa (due to strong south-south flows and weaker currencies in some countries that attracted larger remittances). By contrast, growth in remittance flows to Latin America and Caribbean was lower than previously expected, due to continuing weakness in the U.S. economy and Spain. Flows to Middle East and Africa were also impacted by the “Arab Spring”.

We are planning to initiate a Knowledge Partnership on Migration and Global Development. Please send your comments and suggestions on the consultation draft to migrationteam@worldbank.org.

The Knowledge Partnership on Migration and Global Development will be a global public good. It will seek to highlight the benefits and challenges of migration for sending and receiving communities as well as for migrants. The Knowledge Partnership will:

(i) provide an open, multidisciplinary platform to debate, discuss and exchange knowledge on migration issues;

(ii) generate a menu of policy choices based on evidence and peer-review, and

(iii) will assist sending and receiving countries in implementing a few pilot policy operations and capacity building efforts to evaluate and mainstream a few policy choices.