Remittance Woes: Job Losses, Closed Borders Sap Nations of $660B

Source: Al Jazeera

The amount of money migrant workers send to their home countries usually holds up well in a crisis. Not this time.

Waves of job losses among overseas workers and international border closures are sapping the $690 billion annual flow of global remittances at a time when many emerging economies need hard currency more than ever. Lebanon, Ukraine and the Philippines will be among the hardest hit, while Latin America could see an 18% drop in money being sent home compared with last year.

Global remittances flows have reached record highs in recent years as countries have become more closely interconnected. Apart from China and Ecuador, most of the reported Covid-19 cases come from industrialized nations that are home to the majority of the world’s migrant workers, according to Manuel Orozco, who directs the Inter-American Dialogue’s migration, remittances and development program in Washington.