US Remittances Hold Steady Despite Fewer Senders

Even though fewer Latin Americans are sending money home regularly, the volume of remittances from the US to LatAm – forecast at around $45.9bn this year – will be unchanged in 2008 versus the previous two years, according to a survey by IDB’s Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF).The poll, conducted in February among 5,000 LatAm adults living in the US, found that just 50% of respondents were still sending money on a regular basis, down from 73% in a similar poll conducted in 2006, the fund says. The principal causes cited by migrants were a slowdown in the US economy and a harsher climate against immigration, MIF says. But those who continue to convey remittances are doing so more frequently and for larger amounts, according to the survey. “Starting in 2000, remittances from the United States to Latin America grew steadily, as more immigrants sent more money more often to their relatives back home. During the past several months, however, this pattern has changed dramatically,” says MIF general manager Donald Terry.