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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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South Asia

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. 

Nepal announces a diaspora bond

Submitted by Dilip Ratha on Thu, 07/30/2009 - 17:33

Excerpt from the budget speech (July 13, 2009, para 139) by the Nepal finance minister for the new fiscal year beginning this month:

"An arrangement has been made to issue "Infrastructure Development Bond" of an amount of Rs. 7 billion by Nepal Rastra Bank fixing pegged exchange rates targeting the Nepalese working abroad through Nepalese Embassies in South Korea, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, as a part of domestic borrowing for the coming fiscal year. Such Bonds can be purchased only from workers working abroad. From this arrangement, the remittance can be used for infrastructure development and the remittance itself remains free of additional charges while transmitting to Nepal. In addition to it, I am confident that such workers employed abroad will receive interest from the day of bond purchase and be benefitted."

India is the top recipient of remittances

Submitted by Dilip Ratha on Sat, 07/25/2009 - 22:32

With Sanket

Newly available data show that remittance flows to developing countries reached $328 billion in 2008. In India, flows were stronger than expected in 2008 reaching $52 billion, up 34% compared to a year ago, and higher than our earlier estimate of $45 billion. India retains its position as the top recipient of migrant remittances among developing countries, followed by China, Mexico and the Philippines (figure 1).

Figure 1. India was the top recipient of migrant remittances among developing countries in 2008