Last year migrants sent to their home countries over $ 300 billion
Baku, February 18 (AZERTAC), Money sent home by economic migrants working in foreign countries exceeded $300 billion in 2010, and this vast and growing tide of income needs to be safeguarded and channelled so that it does the most good for families and economies in the world´s poor nations, experts said at a two-day UNCTAD meeting.
The 14-15 February session, titled "Maximizing the development impact of remittances", heard the Deputy Secretary-General of UNCTAD, high officials of migrant-sending and migrant-receiving countries, and high representatives of several international organizations, as well as members of the Global Migration Group, civil society and the private sector sound a common theme: that remittances are now a major economic force, and they must be better understood and harnessed for development.
"Remittances account for about 2 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) of all developing countries, and for higher percentages in many," UNCTAD Deputy Secretary-General Mr. Petko Draganov said in opening the meeting.
The particular issues raised by remittances sent by women migrant workers were cited repeatedly. Ms. Purnima Mane, Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund, said that women now outnumbered men among economic migrants in the wealthy nations of Western Europe and North America. Although they tended to earn lower wages than their male counterparts, evidence indicated that they sent a higher proportion of their incomes home, and that they sent this money more dependably and more often.
Experts stressed the need to conduct country-specific reviews of the financial regulations and payment systems affecting remittance flows, in order to assess what exists, what works, and what could be improved. This could help in setting up an analytical framework and roadmap to evaluate countries´ levels of financial inclusion and financial literacy as a key component of development strategies. It could also help to produce a toolkit and database on pro-development practices and on policies facilitating remittance flows, in order to address barriers and to promote productive investments to better harness remittances for development.
Other news in this section
