Cash Back
It wasn’t until my early 20s that I made the decision to leave my home in Bulgaria and seek work abroad. Until that point I’d imagined finding work at home, close to my friends and family. “One day when you get rich, you’ll send me some money to help me, won’t you?” my mother would ask.
Last year I started my first real job – in Germany. I still wanted to help my mother out from time to time, so I began sending a small amount of money home each month – a day’s wage for me is roughly equal to a third of her monthly loan repayments. On the day that I sent the first payment it struck me how little it takes to change a human life – and this is Europe we’re talking about. What about Africa?
According to the World Bank, in 2010 the total remittance flows (the money sent by migrants to their families and relatives at home) added up to $325.5bn. That’s roughly the same as the world’s richest countries spend on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in developing countries every year, and more than three times the level of Official Development Assistance (ODA). So they’re clearly a potent force, but in the context of a dynamic global economy, can remittances be a sustainable means for socioeconomic development in the South?
Remittances: Remedy for the Global South?
There’s no doubting that the money I send home to my mother each month makes her life considerably better. But what does the bigger picture look like? Many argue that instead of increasing human wellbeing, remittances contribute to growing inequality within countries, causing increased migration away from the developing world and encouraging a lack of international competitiveness.
Seen in this light, globalization has left the world more divided than ever. In developing countries, instability, corruption and poor governance hinder economic progress and limit opportunities for the young. At the same time, population growth in many of those regions has led to a dramatic oversupply of (mostly unqualified) labor, resulting in steadily increasing migration outflows, mainly to developed countries but also to other low- or middle-income countries – the so-called ‘South-South Migration’.
Short-term gains
So while remittances fight poverty in the short-term, some experts believe they increase the social divide in many countries because the poorest are seldom among those on the receiving end of any benefits. Meanwhile, this constant inflow from abroad creates a culture of dependency in recipient households in particular, and the country in general.
Then there’s the impact on the labor market – why look for a job when you can stay at home and wait for a cheque? The end result is that the country becomes more vulnerable to external developments, such as the economic situation in the host country. According to World Bank experts, this is more likely if the major part of the diaspora of a given country resides predominantly in one and the same economy – as in the case of Mexico (USA) and Tajikistan (95% of Tajik emigrants work in Russia).
But that’s not to say that these short-term gains should be overlooked entirely. Remittances increase access to basic needs and play a significant part in reducing poverty in many regions, especially during economic downturns or natural disasters in the country of origin. Just look at the financial crisis in Mexico in 1995, or the Asian crash in the Philippines and Thailand in 1997 – in both cases, remittances were vital in alleviating the depression that followed in those territories.
And since the amount of money sent back is likely to increase in times of serious need, remittances can represent a more stable financial source than capital flows and FDI. For example, while the volume of remittances to developing countries fell by 5.5% in 2009 as a result of the financial crisis, FDI and equity investment flows dropped by 40% and 46% respectively.
Long-term benefits
So the big question is, do remittances pay for themselves in the end? Can the income they provide really make up for the loss of skilled labor that emigration represents? Quite possibly. According to Salvadoran sociologist Carlos G. Ramos, “Migration and remittances are the true economic adjustment programs of the poor in our country.”
The majority of migrants from the developing world are non-skilled, so emigration actually eases the pressure on local labor markets and helps consolidate public finances by relieving social security systems and increasing tax revenues. And remittances can create demand for local products, encouraging sectors like agriculture, construction and banking, and creating employment opportunities.
Ultimately it’s about transferring simple financial resources into long-term investments. Ideally, these positive developments will convince many qualified people to return home, something that can be observed today in Turkey and India.
It’s difficult to say with certainty whether remittances are a force for good or bad. On the macroeconomic level, remittances generally lead to import dependency and cause appreciation of local currencies, commodities and prices, hindering global competitiveness. But it doesn’t have to be this way. The socioeconomic impact of remittances depends on the way they are handled: whether they are entirely consumed or invested. Remittances are predominantly used to cover basic needs, but these basic needs – food, shelter, health services and education – are the best investments for the poor. They have positive, long-lasting consequences and are sustainable in as much as they enhance social inclusion and ownership.
It’s a close argument, but the impact of remittances on long-term economic development seems predominantly positive. As Devesh Kapur, Director of the Center for the Advanced Study of India puts it, money inflows from abroad can be “the new mantra for development“. In a roundabout way, the economic progress that comes from the financial and social contributions of migrants could lead to an eventual decrease in emigration and an increase in return migration. Combined with an investment-friendly remittance policy that encourages transparency and competition, and which cuts high taxes, this approach could eventually result in continuous, sustainable growth.
Image courtesy of Images of Money
Tags: migration, poverty, remittances, socioeconomic impact, sustainable development
Samuil Simeonov
Most recent Local Views on ‘Cash back’
-
Finance Companies send remittances too!
Written by Muhammad Bilal Khalid
on November 24, 2011. We all know that immigrants send money home, but did you know that large corporations and international enterprise do the same? They start their businesses in the developing world and then they leave with all the resources and most of the profits – though they also increase the socio-economic standards […]
-
Cash Backs in Bulgaria – an Easy Solution or a Timebomb?
Written by Liliya Todorova
on November 20, 2011. Peter, his wife and their two small children are a middle class family who own a two-bedroom apartment in a central location in Varna, Bulgaria’s third largest city. They have two cars and go on vacation twice a year. Peter has a degree in economics and used to work for […]
-
Leaving home: Bolivia´s mass labor migration and the impact of remmittances
Written by Lucia Querejazu
on November 8, 2011. The question of how much good remittances are doing to our countries is very difficult to answer. The first and most obvious answer is that they are definitely doing good since they are sent expressly to improve the quality of life of family members who stayed behind. Money comes in […]
-
Romania: The EU’s Largest Receiver of Remittances
Written by Corina Murafa
on October 28, 2011. Strawberry nouveaux riches We’ve invented a new word and a social category for them. We call them “capsunari” – which roughly translates as “strawberry-picker,” a term which doesn’t, however, convey the tone of scorn and disdain we usually put into it. About three million Romanians (13 percent of the country’s […]
-
Migrants in Spain: More remittances, worse conditions
Written by sergio.marx
on September 26, 2011. The amount of remittances sent from Spain is rising again after two years of fall. Even if this could imply an improvement of the situation of migrants, it actually proves the opposite: they send a bigger part of their loan. Over the top, aggressive right-wing positions against migrants are getting […]
-
The Abandoned Park in Gyumri
Written by Artur Papyan
on September 26, 2011. To put it simply, this country won’t survive without its labour migrants…
-
Remittances to Drought/Famine-Affected Households in Northern Kenya
Written by ArriannaMarie
on September 21, 2011. Women and children are the ones most susceptible to the effects of drought and famine which is why it is important to consider ways to make remittances more accessible to them. Kenya already has the infrastructure and services to lower the cost of sending money to relatives who need monetary […]
-
How is Africa Benefitting from Labour Migration?
Written by Delalorm
on September 21, 2011. The migration of skilled professionals, or the brain drain as it is popularly known, is believed to impact negatively on the migrant’s home country. It usually involves the transfer of human capital important for economic growth from countries suffering from scarcity of resources or poor working conditions to countries enjoying […]
-
Milking the Cash Back Cow: Youth Unemployment and Labor Migration in Central America
Written by Juliana Rincon
on September 16, 2011. Central American governments benefit greatly from the money migrants in search of better work or study opportunities send back to their families: could this explain the lack of effective youth employment policies that would keep these young men and women in their countries at the government’s expense? Remittances have become […]
-
A One-Way Ticket: Polish Emigration in the EU
Written by Tomasz Joniec
on September 6, 2011. Polish emigrants are safe and sound abroad. Government plan (or rather a slogan) of them coming back is a wishful thinking. Why? Poland doesn’t offer anything that would be beneficial for them, as you can earn for the whole year living in Poland just in 4 months in the UK.
