Foreword ix Acknowledgments xi Contributors xiii 
Remittances: An Overview 1 
Samuel Munzele Maimbo and Dilip Ratha 
PART 1 REMITTANCE TRENDS AND DETERMINANTS 17 
Chapter 1 Workers' Remittances: An Important and Stable 
Source of External Development Finance 19 
Dilip Ratha 
Chapter 2 Migrant Remittances in Africa: 
A Regional Perspective 53 
Cerstin Sander and Samuel Munzele Maimbo 
PART 11 MAXIMIZING THE DEVELOPMENT IMPACT 
OF REMITTANCES 81 
Chapter 3 The Socioeconomic Impact of Remittances 
on Poverty Reduction 83 
Admos O. Chimhowu, Jenifer Piesse, and Caroline Pinder 
Chapter 4 Remittances and Economic Development 
in India and Pakistan 103 
Roger Ballard 
Chapter 5 Migrant Workers' Remittances: A Source of Finance 
for Micro-Enterprise Development in Bangladesh? 119 
Abul Kalam Azad 
Chapter 6 Migration and Development: 
The Philippine Experience 133 
l. F. Bagasao 
Chapter 7 Remittances from Canada to Central America 
and fue Caribbean 143 
Barnabé Ndarishikanye 
PART III STRENGTHENING THE FORMAL FINANCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE FOR REMITTANCES 157 
Chapter 8 Exploring fue Credit Unían Experience with 
Remittances in fue Latin American Market 159 
David C. Grace 
Chapter 9 Remittances and Pyramid Investment Schemes 
in Albania 175 
fames P. Korovilas 
Chapter 10 Intemational Remittances: Delivering Fair Value 193 
Norbert Bielefeld and Antonique Koning 
PART IV INCREASING TRANSPARENCY IN THE INFORMAL FINANCIAL lNFRASTRUCTURE FOR REMITTANCES 2°9 
Chapter 11 The Regulation and Supervision of 
Informal Funds Transfer Systems 211 
Samuel Munzele Maimbo and Nikos Passas 
Chapter 12 Regulation and Supervision in a Vacuum: 
The Story of fue Somali Remittance Sector 227 
Abdusalam Omer and Gina El Koury 
Chapter 13 A Proposed Framework to Analyze Informal 
Funds Transfer Systems 243 
Raul Hernandez-Coss 
PART V MIGRATION, DEVELOPMENT, AND REMITTANCES 275 
Chapter 14 The Impact of Intemational Migration 
and Remittances on Poverty 277 
Richard H. Adams fr. and fohn Page 
Chapter 15 Transnationalism and Development: 
Trends and Opportunities in Latin America 307 
Manuel Orozco 
Chapter 16 Remittances: The New Development Mantra? 331 Devesh Kapur 
Index 361 
BOXES 
1.1 Securitizing Future Flows of Workers' Remittances 27 1.2 Mexican Matriculas Consulares Boost Remittances 36 1.3 Financial Fairs Promote Good Banking Habits 37 2.1 The Effects of Regulation on Remittances 69 
13.1 FATF's Special Recommendations on 
Terrorist Financing 248 13.2 FedACH's Intemational Model 252 13.3 Preliminary Obstacles to Estimating 1FT 262 16.1 The Limitations of Remittance Data: 
ASerious Caveat 335 
FIGURES 
1.1 Workers' Remittances and Other Inflows 23 1.2 Remittances Are Higher in Lower-Income Countries, 2003 23 1.3 Remittances Are Higher in Lower-Income Countries, 2003 24 1.4 Top 20 Developing-Country Recipients of Remittances, 2003 24 1.5 Top 20 Developing-Country Recipients of Remittances, 2003 25 1.6 Top Sources of Outward Remittances, 2003 25 1.7 Outward Remittances from fue United States and Saudi Arabia 26 1.8 Volatility of Remittances Compared to Private Flows in fue Philippines 28 1.9 Volatility of Remittances Compared to Private Flows in Turkey 28 1.10 Volatility of Remittances, by Country Group, 1980s and 1990s 29 1.11 India's Remittance Receipts 31 1.12 Average Transfer Fee and Exchange Rate Commission for Sending US$200, February 2002 34 2.1 Remittances to Developing Countries,1970 to 2001 57 2.2 Total Remittances to Africa, 1990 to 2001 58 2.3 Remittances by Region,1990 to 2001 58 2.4 Regional Distribution of Remittances to Africa, 2001 59 2.5 Top 15 Remittance Recipient Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, 1990 to 2001 60 5.1 Migrants' Remittances to Banglad~sh, 1990-2003 125 5.2 Comparative Position of Migrant Remittances in 
Bangladesh,1990-2003 126 
7.1 Remittances as a Percentage of Exports in Selected Central American and Caribbean 
Countries, 1990-2001 145 7.2 Remittances to Selected Central American and 
Caribbean Countries, 1990-2002 146 7.3 Remittances as a Percentage of GDP in Selected 
Central American and Caribbean Countries, 
1990-2001 147 
12.1 Official Development Assistance and Remittances to Somalia, 2001-2002 229 12.2 Major Income Sources in Somalia 230 13.1 Diagramming fue Framework 258 13.2 Illustrating fue Framework 267 15.1 Growth of Mexican Clubs (HTAs) in Chicago 322 16.1 Remittance Inflows to Developing Countries 336 16.2 Unweighted Average of Remittances as a Share of 
Private Consumption, Unbalanced 344 16.3 Unweighted Average of Remittances as a Share of 
Private Consumption 344 16.4 Population (Age 25 and Older) at Home and 
Overseas with Tertiary Education 346 
TABLES 
1.1 Workers' Remittances 21 1.2 Remittances Received by Developing Countries, 
2003 22 
1.3 Investment Climate and Workers' Remittance 
Receipts in Developing Countries 30 1.4 Remittances as a Percentage of GDP, 1996-2000 30 1.5 Income from External Remittances in Pakistan by 
Income Group, 1986-87 and 1990-91 33 1.6 Payments to Traffickers for Selected 
Migration Routes 41 1A.1 Workers' Remittance lnf1ows to Pakistan, 1999-2002 43 
3.1 Remittances Received and Sent by 
Developing Countries 85 3.2 Remittances Received by Developing Countries, 
by Region, 1999-2002 86 3.3 Remittance Motivation and Use 90 3.4 Key Impacts of Remittances on Poverty at 
Different Levels 95 3.5 Pro-Poor Market Development: Examples of 
Monitoring Indicators to Be Used in Assessing Remittance-Related Interventions 97 
.1 Seasonal Agricultural Workers from Mexico 
and fue Caribbean, 2000-2002 145 7.2 Amounts Transferred to Haiti by Surveyed 
Companies, July 2003 148 7.3 Amounts Transferred to Jamaica by Surveyed 
Companies, July 2003 149 7.4 The Cost of Sending Money, July 2003 151 8.1 Cost of Sending US$300 to Mexico from 
California, Friday, May 17,2002 167 8.2 Cost Comparison between Credit Unions and 
Market Leaders 168 9.1 Economic Recovery in Eastern Europe, 1994-2002 177 9.2 Albania's Main Economic Indicators, 1996-2000 184 9.3 Inflation and Nominal and Real Interest Rates 187 
10.1 Officially Recorded Migration from Outside fue European Union to Spain, 2002 201 
10.2 Profiling Remittance Senders and Beneficiaries 
in Spain and Colombia 202 10.3 Cooperation Agreements between La Caixa and 
Its Partner Banks 205 13.1 Formal Cross-Border Transfers, 2001 261 14.1 Elasticity of Poverty, Estimated Using 
International Migration Data 285 14.2 Elasticity of Poverty, Estimated Using 
International Remittance Data 286 14.3 Regional Summary of Mean Values for Poverty, 
Inequality, Migration, and Remittances 289 14.4 Elasticity of Poverty by Region, Estimated Using 
International Migration and Remittance Data 290 14A.1 Surnmary of Data Set on Poverty, Inequality, 
International Migration, and Remittances 295 15.1 Central America in fue Global Economy, 2002 310 15.2 Frequency of Irnmigrant Travel to Home Country 312 15.3 Frequency of Travel to Home Country and 
Years Living in the United States 312 15.4 Nationals as a Percentage of Tourists in fue 
Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and Mexico 313 15.5 How Much Is Spent per Trip? 313 15.6 Frequency of International Long-Distance 
Telephone Calls Made to Home-Country Relatives 315 15.7 Average Duration of International Long-Distance 
Telephone Calls Made to Home-Country Relatives 315 15.8 Phone Calls between fue United States and 
Selected Central American Countries 316 15.9 Do You Buy Home-Country Products? 316
15.10 Top Six Home-Country Products Purchased 
by Emigrants 317 15.11 Household Income by Race 318 15.12 Average Monthly Amount Remitted by Latin 
Americans in fue United States 319 15.13 Remittances, Investment, and Foreign Aid in Latin 
America, 1996 and 2001 320 15.14 Foreign-Born Latinos in the United States and 
Remittances to Latin America, 2000 320 15.15 Mexico: Budget Allocation, HTA Donations, 
and Population 323 15.16 Remittance Senders Who Belong to an HTA 324 15.17 Dimensions of Transnational Engagement 327 
16.1 Net Flows of External Finance to Developing 
Countries, 2001 332 16.2 Net Transfers of Externa! Finance to Developing 
Countries, 2001 333 16.3 Largest Sources and Recipients of Remittances, 
Annual Average, 1992-2001 334