Tag: remittances

Spain’s economic crisis: as seen through remittance flows

May 2, 2013 7:30pm by Naomi Mapstone

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Spain’s economic crisis is writ large in the Inter-American Development Bank’s latest statistics on remittance flows to Latin America.

For years, thousands of Bolivians, Ecuadoreans and Colombians have been among those to seek work in Spain, legally or illegally. Whether young educated professionals, or poor maids, cleaners and construction labourers, these workers could see the advantages of saving Euros that would magically multiply back home into pesos or dollars or bolivianos. Continue reading »

Tags: remittances Posted in Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, LatAm, Mexico, Peru | Permalink

Remittances: reversing the brain drain

Nov 26, 2012 12:35pm by Gwen Robinson

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A surge of remittances during the global financial crisis has helped to support the economies of some of the world’s least developed countries.

But a report published on Monday has underlined the high price such LDCs – including many poor countries in Africa – are paying for these transfers from migrants working abroad – a crippling “brain drain”. Continue reading »

Tags: employment, migration, remittances, skills, UN Posted in Global | Permalink

Remittances set to grow even faster than expected, despite high costs

Nov 21, 2012 10:33am by Stefan Wagstyl

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Migrant workers are doing overtime to keep the world economy going. One of the few pleasant surprises of the post-2008 global economic turmoil has been the strength of remittance flows to the developing world.

In a report this week the World Bank says remittances are expected to exceed earlier estimates and reach $406bn this year, an increase of 6.5 per cent over 2o11, with further gains in the next three years. The main impediment is the high cost of the transfers – a full 12.4 per cent for sub-Saharan Africa. Continue reading »

Tags: remittances Posted in Global | Permalink

Bad news for the US? Remittances to Mexico plunge 20%

Nov 1, 2012 11:30pm by beyondbrics

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By Ron Buchanan and Pan Kwan Yuk

If the amount of money sent home by Mexicans working in the US is a barometer for the health of the American economy, then here’s some bad news for President Barack Obama.

Remittances sent home by oversea Mexicans fell 20 per cent to in September, according to the latest figures published by the Bank of Mexico. The drop – from $1.88bn last September to $1.66bn this September – is the biggest monthly drop since October 2009, the height of the global financial crisis. Continue reading »

Tags: Mexico economy, remittances, US economy Posted in LatAm, Mexico | Permalink

Remittances: bigger than ever

Oct 3, 2012 6:21pm by Avantika Chilkoti

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Remittances to developing countries recovered quickly from the fall of Lehman Brothers and are comfortably back above pre-crisis levels. The World Bank, among others, expects them to keep rising through the current crisis, as flows from other sources become less reliable.

Now, as industry experts explain to beyondbrics, the twin forces of regulation and technology are reshaping the remittances industry. Continue reading »

Tags: mobile banking, regulation, remittances, technology Posted in Global | Permalink

US economy: Mexico remittance edition

Aug 1, 2012 9:41pm by Ron Buchanan

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The US economy shows signs of having wobbly legs after a second straight month of a decline in manufacturing. But other legs appear to be stomping a Mexican folk dance.

Mexican emigrants, overwhelmingly based in the United States, sent home $11.85bn in the first half of the year, a 6 per cent increase on the same period of 2011, the Mexican central bank reported Wednesday. Continue reading »

Tags: remittances, US-Mexico Posted in LatAm, Mexico | Permalink

Brazil: no need to send money home

Jan 30, 2012 7:00pm by Samantha Pearson

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Not so long ago, anyone in Brazil who wanted to make enough money to support their family was better off getting on the first flight out of there and going to work abroad.

But how things have changed. Now it seems it’s foreigners who are queuing up in Brazil to support their impoverished families back in the US and Europe. Continue reading »

Tags: immigration, migration, remittances Posted in Brazil, LatAm | Permalink

Panama’s latest export: remittances

Jan 20, 2012 11:14pm by Ron Buchanan

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Forget the wide-brimmed white hats that Panama is synonymous with. The country’s latest export? Remittances.

While remittances from their emigrants have long been a part of the lifeblood of the economies of Mexico and Central America – Panama has emerged as an exception in the region. The country last year became a net exporter, rather than recipient, of remittances. It reported outward remittances of just over $1bn in 2011. This was money sent by foreigners who live and work in Panama to their home countries, mainly the United States and Colombia. Continue reading »

Tags: Panama economy, remittances Posted in LatAm, Panama | Permalink

Philippines: bad news for remittances

Aug 31, 2011 2:06pm by Roel Landingin

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Benigno Aquino III, the popular Philippine president, should begin to worry about his country’s disappointing GDP growth of 3.4 per cent in the quarter ending June, among the lowest in the region. And it’s not just because the economy has progressively slowed down in the past four quarters that he’s been in power.

Rather, the Philippines is losing one of its main growth drivers: remittances from Filipino contractual workers abroad that boost domestic spending. Continue reading »

Tags: economy, GDP, remittances Posted in Asia, Philippines | Permalink

A simple idea to help save Egypt

Jul 6, 2011 6:37pm by Heba Saleh

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A group of Egyptian expatriates who met online are behind a new initiative to support the economy of their home country, damaged by the political turmoil following the revolution which toppled Hosni Mubarak, the former president.

The idea behind the T6T scheme is simple according to Ahmed al-Daly, a software developer in Canada and one of the people who devised it. Continue reading »

Tags: banking, central banks, currencies, remittances Posted in Africa, Egypt | Permalink

Philippines: fewer remittances

May 17, 2011 3:28pm by Roel Landingin

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For a remittance-dependent economy like the Philippines, news that year-on-year growth in money sent home by Filipinos working overseas dropped to only 4.1 per cent in March, the lowest in 19 months, should be worrisome.

But that’s not the whole of it. The number of Filipinos leaving for jobs abroad fell by 3.8 per cent to only 380,188 in the first quarter from 395,189 in the same period a year ago, mainly because of the political troubles in the Middle East and North Africa. Manila imposed temporary bans on deployments to Libya, Bahrain, Yemen and Syria since conflict erupted in those countries earlier this year. Continue reading »

Tags: remittances Posted in Philippines | Permalink

The Philippines: the peso’s positive outlook

Jan 6, 2011 2:00pm by Roel Landingin

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A stronger peso, buoyed by rising remittances from more than 9m Filipinos working overseas, continues to do wonders for the Philippine economy.

On Thursday, Moody’s changed the outlook on the Philippines’ foreign and local-currency bond ratings to positive from stable on the country’s stronger external payments position, after Manila sold. The move could lead to a possible upgrade of Manila’s credit rating currently set at Ba3, which is two notches below investment grade.

Tags: bonds, credit ratings, remittances Posted in Philippines | Permalink

Deal of the day: money-transfer companies evolve, as remittances rebound

Aug 25, 2010 4:35pm by beyondbrics

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By Giovanni Amodeo of mergermarket

Don’t underestimate remittances – according to the World Bank, developing countries receive two-thirds as much money from their workers abroad as they do from foreign direct investors.

But the money-transfer industry is fragmented, and needs to adapt to new competition, regulations and technologies. So like other sectors, it’s using the aftermath of the Great Recession to consolidate. Continue reading »

Tags: banking, mergermarket, remittances Posted in Global | Permalink

Ukraine: remittances home are no small deal

Jul 30, 2010 6:10pm by Anora Mahmudova

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The few hundred dollars Ukrainian migrant workers send from Russia and Europe back home each month add up when multiplied by the more than a million migrant workers. After a dip in the flow of remittances in 2009, caused by the global recession, the World Bank projects a modest 2-3 per cent rebound in 2010.

The $5bn in remittances that Ukrainian migrant workers send home every year is not something to sneeze at, not least when one contemplates the massive cuts Kiev has had to take in recent months to secure a $15bn aid package from the IMF. Continue reading »

Tags: remittances Posted in Ukraine | Permalink

Mexican remittance hopes could go sour

May 5, 2010 6:12pm by Adam Thomson

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There was bittersweet news this week for the millions of Mexican households that receive remittances from family members working in the US.

These funds, which topped an astonishing $26bn in 2007, have become a vital source of income over the last couple of decades. And they have helped fund everything from garish Disneyland-inspired family homes in the remote Mexican countryside simply to ensuring that there is food on the table each day. Continue reading »

Tags: migration, remittances Posted in LatAm, Mexico | Permalink

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Tag: remittances

Spain’s economic crisis: as seen through remittance flows

Remittances: reversing the brain drain

Remittances set to grow even faster than expected, despite high costs

Bad news for the US? Remittances to Mexico plunge 20%

Remittances: bigger than ever

US economy: Mexico remittance edition

Brazil: no need to send money home

Panama’s latest export: remittances

Philippines: bad news for remittances

A simple idea to help save Egypt

Philippines: fewer remittances

The Philippines: the peso’s positive outlook

Deal of the day: money-transfer companies evolve, as remittances rebound

Ukraine: remittances home are no small deal

Mexican remittance hopes could go sour

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