asian remittance study
“Building a future back home: Leveraging migrant worker remittances for development in Asia” is a study sponsored by Western Union and carried out by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).
In 2007, recorded remittances to developing countries were estimated at US$240 billion – double the value of official development assistance and approaching the level foreign direct investment. The sheer size of remittance flows to developing countries inspired us to ask: How can the potential power of remittances be unleashed to promote long-term economic development?
The EIU paper presents inspiring success stories of overseas workers banding together to make a real difference at the community level back home. The EIU also found, however, that remittance-based projects are a relatively new phenomenon that is far from reaching its full potential.
The study examined in particular the concept of collective remittances, the pooling of funds in remittance-sending countries for specific projects in receiving countries. The EIU identified key criteria for leveraging collective remittances to drive economically and socially productive projects and suggested that the next logical step was gathering additional data and sharing knowledge.
the western union conversation
At Western Union, we are committed to helping to create economic opportunity and development in the communities that we serve. We hope to catalyze a dialogue among stakeholders, based the results of this study, to pave a way for future successful collective remittance-based projects. We hope that you will watch out for and join our conversation.
For further information about this study, please contact:
Angela HengVice President, Asia Pacific
Corporate Affairs
The Western Union Company
T: +852 3405 8187
