Sending money home to Latin America

May 30, 2001

Free Market Foundation

Immigrants living and working abroad send $20 billion a year to family and friends remaining in Latin America, according to a study conducted by an arm of the Inter-American Development Bank.

The amount already exceeds development assistance and is equal to nearly one-third of all foreign investment in the region.

The payments account for at least 10 percent of the gross domestic product in six countries Haiti, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic and Ecuador.

Nearly $6.8 billion goes to Mexico each year followed by almost $1.9 billion to Brazil and $1.75 billion to the Dominican Republic.

The sums generally range in the lower hundreds of dollars per transfer with most persons sending money eight or 10 times a year.

It is estimated that cash remittances from migrants in the United States to Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean alone will total almost $300 billion over the next ten years.

Source: Tom Carter, Plan Will Make Sending Money Home Easy, Washington Times, May 17, 2001.

For text http://www.washtimes.com/world/20010517-263876.htm
For more on the Bank http://www.iadb.org/
For more on the Effects of Immigration http://www.ncpa.org/pd/immigrat/effects.html