boddi
On 11/17/05, Sujeet Bhatt <sujeet.bhatt at gmail.com> wrote:
> http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-1299489,curpg-1.cms
>
> The Economic Times
>
> India gets $21.7 bn from NRIs (non-resident Indians) in 2005
> CHIDANAND RAJGHATTA
>
> TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2005 11:40:30 AM]
>
> WASHINGTON: Developing countries, including India, are benefiting
> enormously from the migration of their workforce and the resulting
> foreign exchange remittances, a new World Bank study has said.
>
> In fact, India is among the biggest beneficiary of this trend, World
> Bank's Global Economic Prospects (GEP) for 2006, the central theme of
> which is migration and remittances, has reported. Officially recorded
> remittances worldwide exceeded $232 billion in 2005, with India
> receiving almost 10% of the amount ($21.7 billion).
>
> China came second with $21.3 billion, followed by Mexico ($18.1
> billion), France ($12.7 billion), and the Philippines ($11.6 billion).
>
> The GEP authors say remittances sent through informal channels could
> add at least 50% to the official estimate, making remittances the
> largest source of external capital in many developing countries.
>
> International migration can generate welfare gains for migrants and
> their families, as well as their origin and destination countries, if
> policies to better manage the flow of migrants and facilitate the
> transfer of remittances are pursued, the GEP report for 2006 said.
>
> Remittances account for the largest proportion of gross domestic
> product in smaller countries such as Tonga (31%), Moldova (27.1%),
> Lesotho (25.8%), Haiti (24.8%), according to the report.
>
> While remittances have long been thought to be among India's financial
> lifelines, the extent of money flow from migrating workers detailed in
> the World Bank report is quite startling.
>
> NRI remittances is nearly four times more than FDI in India, estimated
> at around $ 5 billion last year. Overall, developing countries
> received $167 billion, more than twice the level of development aid
> from all sources.
>
> ''Remittances from migrating workers has been found to significantly
> reduce poverty in developing countries,'' Dilip Ratha, one of the
> authors of the GEP report said. In countries such as Ghana and Uganda,
> remittances mostly flow to poor families resulting in poverty
> reduction to the extent of 5-10%, Ratha said.
>
> The report also suggests that developing countries benefit more from
> migration than higher income countries.
>
> ''The relative gains are much higher for developing-country households
> than rich-country households, rivalling potential gains from global
> reform of merchandise trade,'' the authors conclude, with $162 billion
> going to new migrants, $143 billion to people living in developing
> countries, and $51 billion to people living in high-income countries.
>
> To achieve these gains, the GEP proposes that developing countries
> seek agreements with countries to which their nationals migrate, to
> improve the conditions under which they cross borders, seek and
> maintain employment, and send a part of their earnings home.
>
> The report says migration ''should not be viewed as a substitute for
> economic development in the origin country as ultimately, development
> depends on sound domestic economic policies.''
>
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