UN agency: Cost of sending money from overseas too high

MANILA, Philippines – The United Nations agency that promotes the integration of developing countries into the world economy called for cheaper ways for migrant workers to send money back home and maximize its economic impact.

UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Deputy Secretary-General Petko Draganov said the costs of sending money from overseas can be high, with the current average fee of 8.7 percent, and “there is still a lack of safe, reliable, accessible transfer systems for remittances.”

“For some countries, excessive margins are charged,” Draganov said.

To lower costs, speakers at the UNCTAD meeting in Geneva this week called for an expansion of access to banks for both sending and recipient families since many, particularly in rural areas, do not have accounts.

They also urged agencies to offer a variety of options for money transfers such as through post offices, micro-finance institutions, the Internet, and mobile phones.

Draganov noted that remittances account for about two percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) of all developing countries.

Lesotho, Nepal, Samoa, Haiti and Bangladesh have even higher percentage remittances of up to 8 percent.

“Although the effects across countries are varied, remittances have reduced poverty at the household level in many developing countries,” he said, citing a recent UNCTAD study that found that in countries where remittances make up five percent or more of GDP, on the average a 10 percent rise in remittances leads to a reduction of 3.9 percent in the poverty headcount ratio.

He stressed that a significant amount of remittance transfers is spent on household consumption and human capital such as food, education, housing, health and related purchases, which can ripple outwards through the domestic economies of poor nations and, if managed well, can create jobs and business opportunities that raise living standards and keep future potential migrants at home.

UN Population Fund (UNFPA) Deputy Executive Director Purnima Mane said women now outnumber men among economic migrants in the wealthy nations of Western Europe and North America.

Although they tend to earn less than their male counterparts, evidence shows that they send a higher proportion of their incomes back home, and do so more dependably and more often.

“Often they are the only contributors to family income,” she told the meeting, dubbed “Maximizing the Development Impact of Remittances.”

“There has been too little analysis of the relation between gender and remittances. Because of the frequency of these financial transfers, women migrants – and their children back home – are especially hurt by high transaction costs.”

Assane Diop, executive director for Social Protection at the UN International Labor Organization, said remittances were a much better way to distribute wealth in developing countries than foreign direct investment, although its flows are greater in monetary terms.

But workers’ remittances go to housing, food, education, health needs and children’s needs, thus having “a very direct impact on poverty reduction.”

For her part, UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Kyung-wha Kang warned that the rights of migrant workers should not be neglected in any discussion of remittances, since “development cannot be defined solely in economic terms.” –Pia Lee Brago (The Philippine Star)