Workers' Remittances: An Important and Stable Source of External Development Finance

  • Date Posted: June 2, 2010
  • Authors: Dilip Ratha
  • Organizations/Projects: World Bank
  • Document Types: Evidence or Research, Primer or Brief
  • Donor Type: Foundation

As private capital flows have declined, workers’ remittances have become an increasingly prominent source of external funding for many developing countries. This chapter examines the relative importance of workers’ remittances as a source of development finance and discusses measures that industrial and developing countries could take to increase remittances.