Migrant Remittances Newsletter Vol. 6 No. 2

The impact of the global economic crisis on migrants and money transfers is having adverse effects in various parts of the world. However, there are also countries, such as the Philippines, where migrants steadily continue to send money. Estimates of the decline in remittances have been readjusted to reflect the news of double-digit declines in year-on-year quarterly growth in countries such as Ecuador and Georgia, though this is not the case for all countries. Remittance flows have reached new records in Bangladesh and Pakistan with over 20 percent annual growth in each country.

Given the mixed results of remittance flows, this issue of the newsletter highlights the important role of public policy interventions to mitigate the effects of the crisis whose outcomes are still hardly predetermined. The recent steps taken by the G8 Global Remittance Working Group are a step in the right direction in this sense, as highlighted by the guest note. Further, the research note in this issue highlights the limited remittance research on Africa and the importance of primary research on market competition and regulations in the region. In this issue, we also look closely at a major remittance country in Southeast Asia, Indonesia, in the country profile.