WASHINGTON: Remittances from Latin Americans working outside of their countries are estimated to be of the order of $60 billion at the end of 2006, representing a 12 per cent increase over 2005, according to the Inter-American Development Bank. The bank said bulk of this money -- as much as $45 billion -- will be from the United States by some 12.6 million adult immigrants from these countries living there.
The bank based its report on surveys carried out on immigrants living in 48 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. It covered 2,511 adults born in Latin America and working in the United States.
The bank said the percentage of immigrants sending money on a regular basis to their countries of origin has increased from 61 per cent in 2004 to 73 per cent in 2006 and the average amount of each remittance has also increased -- from $240 to $300.
A majority of these immigrants told the surveyors that they moved to the U.S. as they did not have full-time jobs in their countries and most of them found work within a month of arrival in the country.
More than half of the immigrants surveyed were under 35 years of age and three out of every five considered themselves "working poor," making under $30,000 a year.
The survey was carried out under an assignment by Bendixen & Associates.
Nearly half of these immigrants have been in the United States for more than 10 years. Traditionally, the remittances have been used to meet daily expenses, but a new trend is for the migrants to invest in Latin American countries.
Bank president Luis Alberto Moreno said there should be more efforts to leverage these resources, particularly, to provide transnational families with access to the financial system.
The Latin American countries are responsive to the situation and last week the Mexican government has announced loans for migrants in the U.S. to build homes in their hometowns.
The report did not give country-by-country break-up for remittances, but said Latin Americans sent $53.6 billion home in 2005, with Mexico receiving the biggest amount of $20 billion, followed by Brazil with $6.4 billion.
New Mexico headed the list of states in the U.S. with an increase of 260 per cent in the amount of remittances in the past two years, from $103 million in 2004 to $370 million in 2006. The second was Louisiana with 240 per cent increase.
