{"id":133254,"date":"2019-05-13T12:00:20","date_gmt":"2019-05-13T11:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=133254"},"modified":"2019-11-19T10:39:01","modified_gmt":"2019-11-19T10:39:01","slug":"the-most-expensive-529-billion-dollars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2019\/05\/the-most-expensive-529-billion-dollars\/","title":{"rendered":"The Most Expensive 529 Billion Dollars"},"content":{"rendered":"

The immense human cost over 260 million migrant workers do pay to rescue their families.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Filipinos fill out the necessary forms after arriving in Manila from Damascus, Syria. \u00a9 IOM. (Photo: Ray Leyesa)<\/p><\/div>\n

8 May 2019 – <\/em>The World Bank (WB) on 8 April 2019 reported<\/a> that migrants remittances to low- and middle-income countries reached a record high in 2018.<\/p>\n

According to the WB study, officially recorded annual remittance flows to those countries reached 529 billion dollars last year, an increase of 9.6 percent over the previous record high of 483 billion dollars in 2017.<\/p>\n

Significantly, these migrants most hardly-won savings do also benefit rich countries. In fact, the WB reports that global <\/u><\/em>remittances, \u201cwhich include flows to high-income<\/u> <\/em>countries,\u201d reached 689 billion dollars in 2018, up from 633 billion dollars in 2017.<\/p>\n

\u201cRemittances on track to become the largest source of external financing in developing countries,\u201d wrote on this <\/a>Dilip Ratha<\/a>,\u00a0lead economist at the World Bank.<\/p>\n

In a breakdown of this data, the WB informs that, regionally, growth in remittance inflows ranged from almost 7 percent in East Asia and the Pacific to 12 percent in South Asia.<\/p>\n

The oil factor<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

And that the overall increase was driven by a stronger economy and employment situation in the United States and a rebound in outward flows from some Gulf Cooperation Council countries (United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, and Kuwait), as well as the Russian Federation.<\/p>\n

Excluding China, remittances to low- and middle-income countries (462 billion dollars) were \u201csignificantly larger than foreign direct investment<\/em> flows in 2018 (344 billion dollars).\u201d<\/p>\n

Foreign Direct Investment flows record the value of cross-border transactions related to direct investment during a given period of time, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.<\/p>\n

The top remittance recipients were India with 79 billion dollars, followed by China (67 billions), Mexico (36 billions), the Philippines (34 billions), and Egypt (29 billions).<\/p>\n

The world financial institution also estimates that, in 2019, remittance flows to low- and middle-income countries are expected to reach 550 billion dollars, to become their largest source of external financing<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Photo from ILO.<\/p><\/div>\n

Lost in commissions<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The 529 billion dollars that migrant-workers have transferred to their countries of origin in 2018 came obviously at a high costs\u2013both economic and human.<\/p>\n

On the one hand, the global average cost of sending 200 dollars remained high at around 7 percent in the first quarter of 2019, according to the WB\u2019s Remittance Prices Worldwide database<\/a>.<\/u><\/p>\n

This means that each migrant is forced to sacrifice, in the concept of money transfer commissions, 7 of 100 dollars that she or he managed to save at the cost of renouncing to many basic human needs.<\/p>\n

Meantime, remittance costs across many African corridors and small islands in the Pacific remain above 10 percent<\/em>.This means that African migrants are compelled to pay as much as 1 in 10 dollars of their savings in the concept of money transfer fees to private banking and financial business.<\/p>\n

On this, the WB says that banks were the most expensive remittance channels, charging an average fee of 11 percent <\/em>in the first quarter of 2019, while post offices were the next most expensive, at over 7 percent.<\/p>\n

On ways to lower remittance costs, Dilip Ratha, lead author of the study,<\/strong>says that \u201cremittances are on track to become the largest source of external financing in developing countries. The high costs of money transfers reduce the benefits of migration.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Source: ILO.<\/p><\/div>\n

The immense human cost<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

For his part, Michal Rutkowski, senior director of the Social Protection and Jobs Global Practice at the World Bank, says that \u201cmillions of low-skilled migrant workers are vulnerable to recruitment malpractices, including exorbitant recruitment costs.\u201d<\/p>\n

IOM, the UN Migration Agency released a new report<\/a> on migrant deaths and disappearances worldwide through its Berlin-based Global Migration Data Analysis Centre.<\/p>\n

Since 2014, more than 23,000 migrant deaths and disappearances have been recorded globally by the IOM. The real number is likely to be much higher as many deaths are never recorded.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

How many migrant workers are there?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

A new study launched on\u00a05 December 2018 by the International Labour Organization (ILO<\/a>) reveals that the number of migrant workers has jumped by millions, leaving some countries without \u201cthe most productive part of their workforce.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the second edition of ILO<\/a>\u2019s Global Estimates on International Migrant Workers<\/a>, approximately 164 million people left home in search of work between 2013 and 2017\u2013 a nine percent increase since 2013, when that number stood at 150 millions.<\/p>\n

Breaking down the figures, 96 milliona are men, a rise of two percent, while 68 milliona are women, a fall of 2 percent compared to 2013.<\/p>\n

Of the 164 million migrant workers worldwide, approximately:<\/em><\/p>\n