LatAm Remittance Growth Slows

Migrants from LatAm and Caribbean sent some $66.5bn back to their home countries in 2007, about 7% more than in the previous year, according to estimates by the IDB’s Multilateral Investment fund (MIF). “This is the first time since we started tracking remittances in the year 2000 that we haven’t seen a double-digit increase,” says MIF manager Donald Terry. “This is mostly because the region’s two top recipients of workers remittances, Mexico and Brazil, departed significantly from past trends.” Mexican migrants appear to be less inclined to send money home, citing concerns about stricter enforcement of immigration laws and a slowing US economy. Increasing economic opportunity at home and a strengthening local currency have reduced the appeal of sending money home for many Brazilian immigrants in the US. Remittances to Mexico, however, were virtually unchanged in 2007, rising barely 1% to $24bn, while transfers to Brazil dropped 4% to about $7.1bn last year, MIF says.